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THE HERO OF JAMESTOWN. 

Bronze statue of Captain John Sniith, by William Couper, of New York, 

unveiled at Jamestown Island, September, 1907, by the Society 

for the Preservation of Virginia antiquities. 



Boys' Life 

Captain John Smith 

ELEANOR H. JOHNSON 

t 



l^eto Sorft 
THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO. 

PUBLISHERS 



.372-(. 



LIBRARY of COMQRESst 
Two Cooles RcoJved ' 

AUG 19 t90; 

CoPVrt4rht Entr\' 
iO,/ ^ <> 7 
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COPY d. 



Copyright, 1907, 
By Thomas Y. Crowell & Co. 



/ 



To all American Boys ivho are interested 
in the Beginnings of their Country 



^^Wliat so truly suits with honor and 
honesty as the discovering things unknown? 
erecting towns, peopling countries, inform- 
ing the ignorant, reforming things unjust, 
teaching virtue; and gain to our native 
mother-country a kingdom to attend herV^ 

John Smith. 



PREFACE. 

Dear Boys: 

In telling over for you the life of this 
brave man, I have followed as nearly as 
possible his own words. If I have empha- 
sized his virtues and said little about his 
faults, it is because I feel sure that we 
understand people best when we look for 
their good points. This does not mean 
that we must refuse to see their weak- 
nesses, but that after all the virtues are 
more important. 

Some writers do not believe that much 
John Smith has said of himself is true. All 
that we, who do believe him, can say is 
that so far as we know, it has never been 
disproved ; and though his words are often 
boastful and full of exaggerations, that 
sort of autobiography was very much the 
custom of his time. Modesty was not so 
much the fashion then as it is now. 



PREFACE. 

I have added to this life of John Smith 
some of his letters, and hope that when you 
have finished the book you will be enough 
interested in him to read those, too. One 
of his soldiers said of him when he was in 
Virginia that he loved actions not words. 
I think when we have read his life through 
we shall rather say that he loved action 
first and words next. And because he did 
love to write about his deeds and his opin- 
ions, we must read some of these brave 
and straightforward words the better to 
understand his brave and straightforward 
character. 

E. H. J. 

April, 1907. 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Boyhood of John Smith, and How He Learned 

to be a Soldier 9 

II. He Goes to Fight the Turks ... 22 

III. The Siege of Ober Limbach, and Other Battles 33 

IV. Taken Prisoner, He Escapes and Finally 

Reaches England 49 

V. The Journey to America 64 

VI. The Trip up the James .... 83 

VII. Captain Newport's Departure, and Distress 

in the Colony 97 

VIII. Discoveries on the Chickahominy, and Cap- 
ture of Smith 114 

IX. The Story of Pocahontas 133 

X. A Second Visit to Powhatan . . .148 

XI. Troubles with the Indians . . . .164 

XII. The Discovery of Chesapeake Bay . . 179 

XIII. President John Smith of Virginia . . .199 

XIV. The Final Victory over the Savages, and 

Captain Smith's Departure . . . 222 
XV. John Smith, Admiral of New England . . 243 
XVI. The Death of Captain John Smith and of His 

Indian Friends 259 

Appendix • 278 



Boyhood of John Smith, and How He 
Learned to be a Soldier. 

When Columbus discovered America in 
the year 1492, he opened a sort of training 
school for heroes,— himself the greatest 
hero of them all. For following his splen- 
did example, men everywhere began enthu- 
siastically to sail the seas in little ships, 
which we should think hardly large enough 
to use on lakes or rivers, searching for 
lands to conquer for their king, for savages 
to convert to their religion, and for honor 
and riches and sometimes knowledge for 
themselves. And from this time on for 
the next hundred years and more, the his- 
tory of Europe is more interesting than the 
most exciting tale of adventures, if we 

9 



10 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

think of it not as plain history but as a 
collection of stories of the lives of great 
men. 

Spain and England were ahead in all 
this sailing and fighting, and being ahead 
they were great rivals, hating each other 
bitterly and always at war. Many English 
lords became famous in these days, either 
because of victories in the battles with 
Spain or through their long and perilous 
journeys to unknown lands, — and they of 
course were admired and reverenced by 
every schoolboy who learned of their 
heroic deeds. Sir Francis Drake and Sir 
Walter Ealeigh and many more like them 
became the types of courage and chivalry; 
and to fight for his country or to gain 
more land and wealth for her beyond the 
seas, was the true knight's ambition. 

In the midst of these thrilling times, in 
the year 1579, a boy named John Smith 
was born in the town of Willoughby in 
Lincolnshire, England. His father, George 
Smith, was a farmer and held his lands 



BOYHOOD OF JOHN SMITH. 11 

under Lord Willoughby, part of whose 
estate the little town was. This brave 
English nobleman had already become fa- 
mous, for a ballad had been written about 
him, beginning: 

"The fifteenth day of July, 

With glistering spear and shield, 
A famous fight in Flanders, 

Was foughten in the field. 
The most courageous officers 

Were English captains three, 
But the bravest man in battel 

Was the brave Lord Willoughbie." 

Though George Smith finally became 
owner of most of his lands he always felt 
that he owed service and loyalty to his 
former landlord; and his children were 
brought up to regard that " generous Lord 
Willoughby and famous soldier," as John 
calls him, as their gracious friend and 
noble hero. 

The little town of Willoughby was within 
easy walking distance of the sea, and while 
there were many farms in the region, much 
of the talk the boys were likely to hear was 



12 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

of the sea and sailors. George Smith was 
of a good family, many of his ancestors 
having been men who fought and died 
bravely for their country ; and although he 
owned much land and was interested in 
farming it properly, John, the oldest boy, 
inherited the fighting spirit and grew up 
with a great desire to go on adventures 
of some kind. 

There were two other children in the 
family, a younger boy and a little girl, 
and their life was much like the life of 
country children now. There were many 
out-door games and these with the chores 
and the lessons kept the days busy. John 's 
mother died when he was quite young; 
when he was old enough he was sent to 
school in a town near by and probably 
worked on the farm after school, for later 
in his life he remembered this work in a 
way that proved very useful to the people 
who followed and depended on him— as 
you shall see. But he liked neither school 
nor farming, and when he was thirteen 



BOYHOOD OF JOHN SMITH. 13 

years old decided to run away to sea. The 
only way in which he could get money for 
his trip to the nearest port was by selling 
his books and the bag he carried them in, 
and this he was very willing to do. 

But just as John was starting out on 
his secret adventure, his father was taken 
very sick. John was not fond of study 
and he did want to have his own way and 
to see and to do new things, but he was 
not a bad boy and loved his father dearly. 
So he stayed at home forgetting his won- 
derful plans in his sorrow over his father ^s 
illness. At last George Smith died leaving 
to his oldest son some money and a good 
piece of land; and all of this legacy, as 
John was so young, was put into the hands 
of guardians. 

The other children were probably taken 
charge of by relatives, but John stayed 
around the farm for two years more. His 
guardians were more interested in the land 
than they were in the boy who owned it, 
and there was no one to find out what he 



14 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

was best fitted for. He had given up his 
plan of running away to sea, sobered for 
the present by his father's death, and we 
can imagine him growing more restless and 
unhappy until finally his idleness was 
noticed and he was bound out as an appren- 
tice to a well-known merchant of a sea-port 
near by. Boys were often made appren- 
tices in those days, living with their mas- 
ters, learning the trade, and giving all their 
time in return for food and lodging and the 
good start in business. John was bound 
out for a term of eight years, and as the 
merchant, Thomas Sendall, had many ships 
which sailed to all parts of the world, the 
boy was very willing to work on the chance 
of being sent to sea. 

When a year of work for master Sendall 
had passed and still no promise of being 
a sailor, John's stock of patience, small 
enough at best, quite gave out and he ran 
away again, this time in good earnest. I 
am afraid he had not been a very useful 
boy to his master, as the punishment 



BOYHOOD OF JOHN SMITH. 15 

for a run-away apprentice was very severe, 
and the merchant had full power to inflict 
this whipping and imprisonment or to de- 
mand a sum of money from his guardians ; 
yet we hear of no effort on the part of any- 
body to get John to go hack. Instead of 
being caught and punished, he like Dick 
Whittington, started to tramp to London, 
for this is the place where all ambitious 
run-aways wished to go; and on his way 
he fell in with young Peregrine Bertie, son 
of his first hero. Lord Willoughby, and 
probably an early playmate. 

This was finding a friend indeed, and 
John was the more delighted when he 
learned that Peregrine was on his way to 
France to join his older brother, and would 
take his old friend with him as one of his 
attendants. On their way through London 
they found John's guardians who, as John 
tells us, *^ liberally gave him out of his own 
estate 10 shillings to be rid of him. ' ' Ten 
shillings in that day equalled about $12 of 
our money and was a much larger sum 



16 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

than it seems to us now. John's needs 
were not great, a nobleman always paid the 
expenses of his attendants, and, at any rate, 
John was a happy boy for here was his 
chance to see the world. 

But when they presently reached the 
town of Orleans in France and met the 
older brother, Robert, the arrangement was 
found not to be a good one. Lord Wil- 
ioughby had lost much money during the 
wars and the expense of an extra attendant 
was more than he could afford ; besides his 
two sons were there to study and John was 
looking for adventures. He did not yet 
know, being only sixteen and very wilful, 
that it takes as much study to be a good 
soldier or sailor as to learn any other kind 
of trade. So after a month or two it was 
thought best to send him back to London, 
giving him money for the journey. 

But John still wanted to see the world, 
and with all the world before him to choose 
from, he did not at all intend to go back 
to London. Instead he turned his steps 



BOYHOOD OF JOHN SMITH. 17 

toward Paris and there met a worthy 
Scotchman, one David Hume. The two 
foreigners in Paris stood by each other, 
John sharing his very humble fortune with 
Hume, while the latter gave him letters 
of recommendation to people in Scotland, 
where the Hume family was a well-known 
one. These letters did prove of some value 
to him as we shall see later. 

Paris was then, as it is now, full of gay- 
ety and excitement. But in the days of 
Henry of Navarre it was also the centre of 
intrigue and conspiracy and many were the 
fierce quarrels between men of different 
political and religious parties. All nation- 
alities were gathered there and nowhere 
was our hero more likely to meet with 
adventures of some sort. But he tells us 
nothing of what happened. English and 
Scotch boys were apt to be well-built, 
sturdy lads, and John and David in any 
encounter they may have had with French 
or Italian boys of their own age were pretty 
sure to come out victorious. 



18 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

Whatever they did they used up all 
John's money, and when he finally decided 
to leave Paris and turned his face toward 
England he found on getting only as far 
as Kouen that he was almost penniless. 
The wars in France were just over and the 
country was full of soldiers of fortune who 
were looking for some other land where 
their services might be needed. All this 
appealed very much to John's love of ad- 
venture and he determined to join some of 
these men; besides it might be a way of 
making his fortune. So he went to Havre, 
the nearest sea-port, joined the troops 
under Captain Joseph Duxbury, one of 
these professional fighters, and there first 
began to learn the life of a soldier. 

At this time there was war in Holland, 
for the brave little country was fighting 
hard against Spain, and Captain Duxbury 
gladly led his company there to enlist under 
some Dutch general. John fought against 
the Spaniards, who were as well the foes of 
England, for three or four years, and when 



BOYHOOD OF JOHN SMITH. 19 

the war was over and Holland was free 
from the tyranny of Spain, John remem- 
bered his letters to Hume 's Scotch friends. 
As a common soldier and a very young one 
at that, he had gained no fame but much 
experience and a real interest in his profes- 
sion, and perhaps thought of entering the 
service of King James of Scotland. But 
nothing went well ; he was shipwrecked on 
an island on his way and was sick there for 
some time; and though he finally reached 
Scotland and was received with great kind- 
ness, the money he had gained in the wars 
was all gone and there was nothing for it 
but to go home. He might not have been 
able even to do that if it had not been for 
the generosity of Hume's friends. They 
fitted him out and would have sent him to 
the king, but on further consideration he 
decided that the life of a courtier was not 
to his mind, and besides he had no money. 
So to Willoughby he went though still 
wishing above all things to be a soldier, 
as we shall soon see. For, tiring of the 



20 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

life in the little country town and caring 
no more for the farm than he did at first, 
he built him a hut of boughs out in the 
woods and there lived, studjang books on 
war and practising with his horse and lance 
till he grew to be a most skilful rider and 
very sure of aim. You see he was older 
now and had learned that even to be a good 
soldier and adventurer, study was neces- 
sary. 

It must have been a good deal like camp- 
ing out and very pleasant for a while; for 
food he could shoot plenty of deer and his 
servant brought him things from the village. 
But such a life could not last long for a 
youth of twenty who still wanted to see 
the world and besides his friends began to 
worry about him. They did not think it 
the right sort of life for a young man to 
lead, and no doubt hoped to interest him in 
some valuable employment befitting his 
condition. Perhaps they wished him to be 
a merchant or a lawyer. As they had no 
influence on him themselves they sent some 



BOYHOOD OF JOHN SMITH. 21 

one whom he would be sure to listen to, an 
Italian of good birth who was keeper of the 
horse for the Earl of Lincoln and who had 
traveled much himself and knew a great 
deal about horses and the practice of arms. 
He took John to stay with him at the Earl's 
country place near by, where there was 
opportunity to learn all about the things 
in which Smith delighted, and also to see 
something of people it would be valuable 
for him to know. But, as he says, ''long 
these pleasures could not content him,'' 
and taking more of the money his father 
left him he went back to Holland in search 
of real fighting. 



II. 

He Goes to Fight the Turks. 

During these early years of Jolm Smith's 
life, most of the known world was engaged 
in religious wars of some sort. England 
had changed from a Catholic to a Prot- 
estant nation and Spain, as the great Catho- 
lic country, was her deadly enemy. France 
was divided — at one time under a Catholic 
prince, at another under a Protestant, and 
the different parties were constantly at war. 
Holland was the stronghold of Protestants 
and in bitter war with Spain which was 
trying to conquer it. Smith, as we have 
seen, began his soldiering in France where 
his leader was probably a Protestant or 
Huguenot, as they were called there. Then 
when things became more peaceful there, 

22 



HE GOES TO FIGHT THE TURKS. 23 

he went with this same leader to Holland 
to fight against Spain ; and now finding on 
this, his second visit, that things were 
quieter in Holland, and, as he says, "both 
lamenting and repenting to have seen so 
many Christians slaughter one another'* 
he longed to go and fight the Turks, who 
were the deadly foes of Catholic and Prot- 
estant alike, and always at war with them 
somewhere. Holland having been so lately 
at war there were soldiers from all coun- 
tries gathered there, and John hoped that 
among them he might find a leader who 
would take him to try his fortunes against 
these heathen enemies of the Christians. 

And now began those wonderful adven- 
tures which some historians have refused 
wholly to believe in. I am going to set 
them down as nearly in John Smith's own 
words as possible, and then we must choose 
for ourselves. However we choose, I am 
sure we cannot fail to believe that we are 
reading about a brave and honorable man 
who loved the life of a soldier but loved 



24 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

kindness and fair dealing as well, especially 
as he grew older. 

Chance threw onr hero then, while in 
Holland, into the company of four gallant 
Frenchmen who pretended that they were 
a great lord and his three gentlemen and 
all devoted friends. They persuaded Smith 
to go with them to France where they said 
they knew the wife of a noble Frenchman, 
the Due de Mercceur or Duke Mercury, as 
Smith always called him, who had gone into 
Hungary to fight on the side of the Em- 
peror of Germany against the Turks. The 
Duchess of Mercury, they assured him, 
would give them money and letters to her 
husband, and then they would join him on 
the field, and so John's purpose would be 
accomplished. He gladly set out with them 
in a little ship, though it was winter and 
they were likely to be hindered by storms. 
But when they neared the coast of France 
and came by night into a shallow bay to 
seek protection from the bad gales, this 
pretended French lord and his companions 



HE GOES TO FIGHT THE TURKS. 25 

turned out to be rogues and villiains. See- 
ing that Smith had better clothes than they 
had and more of them, they plotted with 
the captain of the ship to send them and 
their trunks ashore taking Smith's along 
with them, while Smith was to wait until 
the boat should come back for him, which 
it did not do before evening of the next 
day. We wonder that he should have been 
so easily taken in by any such plot, for it 
seems that the other passengers all knew 
what sort of men these were, and were so 
angry with the captain they almost took 
his ship away from him and threw him 
overboard. 

Instead of that fitting punishment for 
the captain, Smith himself was set on shore 
with only the clothes he had on and one 
penny in his pocket, having been obliged 
to sell his cloak in order to pay his passage. 
He had, however, gained the friendship of 
one man, Curzanvere, a soldier and an out- 
law, as it afterwards appeared. He said 
that he knew the thieving Frenchmen and 



26 LIFE OF Cx\PTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

would take Smith to where he could find 
them, in the meantime sharing his purse 
with him. 

So they traveled through that part of 
France, Smith seeing much that was of 
interest historically and always adding to 
his knowledge of the way men make war. 
When they finally reached the little town 
of Mortagne where both Curzanvere and 
the pretended lord lived. Smith's friend 
and benefactor was afraid to show his face 
for fear of the authorities ; and though his 
relatives were kind and hospitable, they 
also seemed to be afraid of the law and 
poor John was in no better case than when 
he left the ship. In fact he seems to have 
fallen into a nest of outlaws. 

As he did not care to accept their hos- 
pitality when he could do nothing to re- 
turn it, and saw that he would gain nothing 
by staying longer, he left the town and 
wandered on from port to port hoping that 
he could find some great soldier wliom he 
could follow to the wars. Finally having 



HE GOES TO FIGHT THE TURKS. 27 

spent all the money Curzanvere had so 
generously given him, he wandered on 
ashamed to beg, and was found at last by 
a rich farmer under a tree, nearly dead 
from grief and cold. This kind peasant 
warmed and fed him and helped him on his 
way; and not many days later in a wood 
he suddenly came on one of the treacher- 
ous Frenchmen who had stolen his clothes 
and who was in a worse plight than him- 
self. 

Smith did not stop to question but drew 
his sword and rushed at the man furiously, 
and the two began to fight. Some country- 
men looking on from a ruined tower near 
by saw the fight and came to the assistance 
of the Frenchman just in time to hear him 
confess, after Smith had wounded him, that 
he and his companions had stolen Smith's 
trunk and were going to divide the booty 
between them but that he was cheated out 
of his share. 

So John gave up his revenge and left 
the thief to the care of these men. He 



28 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

himself started out to seek the Earl of 
Ployer, a French lord who had been edu- 
cated in England and who he had been told 
was glad to befriend Englishmen who were 
in trouble. Sure enough the Earl received 
him gladly, and after showing the en- 
thusiastic young traveler the sights of that 
part of France where he lived, lent him 
money enough to enable him to journey 
through the South of France visiting the 
principal cities and inspecting their forti- 
fications. With all his love of travel and 
sightseeing. Smith never forgot his inter- 
est in war and was always eager to learn 
the best ways of carrying it on. 

At Marseilles he took ship for Italy, but 
it seems as if he never started on a journey 
without immediately getting into trouble. 
The weather was bad and when it began to 
storm heavily, the passengers, many of 
whom were going on pilgrimages to Eome, 
became very much alarmed ; and though the 
ship put toward shore where the sea was 
shallow and quieter, they were still fright- 



HE GOES TO FIGHT THE TURKS. 29 

ened and superstitious. Finally they swore 
that it was all because of John Smith ; that 
he was not only a heretic but that all Eng- 
lishmen were pirates ; and so railing against 
Queen Elizabeth, then ruler of England, 
and saying they never should have fair 
weather while John was on the ship, they 
threw him overboard. 

This would seem to have been the worst 
misfortune of them all, yet, as he tells us, 
^^God brought him to a little Isle where 
there were no inhabitants, only a few cat- 
tle and goats, ' ' and next morning he spied 
and hailed two ships riding by, also driven 
in by the storm. Captain La Roche was 
master of these two small vessels and knew 
the Earl of Floyer. So when they had 
taken Smith on board and he had told 
them of his friendship with the Earl, the 
captain and his officers received him with 
such kindness that he tells us, ^^he was 
well content to try the rest of his fortune 
with them." 



30 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

In that day many merchantmen carried 
guns and besides trade, carried on what 
we should consider piracy. Every ship 
belonging to another country, particularly 
one that had ever been hostile, was lawful 
prey, and we may be sure that Captain 
La Eoche was keeping his eyes open for 
prizes and booty. So the two little mer- 
chantmen with their guns sailed around 
the south of Spain toward Italy, stopping 
at various points for cargo. At last they 
came across two Venetian ships laden with 
rich freight and someone fired a shot kill- 
ing one man. The ship Smith was on im- 
mediately responded and a desperate fight 
followed in which the brave Frenchmen 
were successful. They boarded the Vene- 
tian craft, took as much booty as they 
wished and set them free, leaving behind 
as much good merchandise as would have 
freighted another French boat ; and so kept 
on their way. 

Smith's share of the booty was about 



HE GOES TO FIGHT THE TURKS. 31 

$1,000 and a valuable little box, and this 
made him for the time a very rich man. 
He asked to be put ashore in the south of 
Italy, hoping to do more of the sightseeing 
which he so loved, and at the same time to 
carry on his search for a chance to go to 
war. On his way up to Rome he found his 
two old friends, Robert and Peregrine Ber- 
tie, '^cruelly wounded in a desperate fray 
yet to their exceeding great honor,'' and we 
hope he was able to do something to repay 
them for their former kindness to him, but 
that he does not tell us. He does describe 
many of the interesting things he saw in 
a way that shows how much he was enjoy- 
ing this chance to travel and how he was 
adding all the time to his education and 
experience. Besides seeing many things 
of great interest he met many people, 
among them an old friend, Lord Ebers- 
baugh, and now it seems as if at last 
Smith's great desire was to be realized. 
For the Earl recommended the young wan- 



32 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

derer to a worthy Colonel, the Earl of Mel- 
dritch, who was going to Vienna where 
there was war against the Turks, and whose 
regiment Smith could join. 



m. 

The Siege of Ober Limbach, and Other 
Battles. 

The Turks had been fighting in Austria 
and Hungary for some time and had won 
several battles, and were now besieging 
Olumpagh, as Smith always calls the town 
of Ober Limbach. When the regiment 
Smith belonged to reached Vienna, it was 
at once assigned to the forces under Baron 
Kisell, and this general and his army were 
ordered to go to the relief of the besieged 
town. On his way John learned that his 
old friend, Lord Ebersbaugh, was governor 
of this town and was imprisoned there^ 
having arrived just before the siege. As 
Baron Kisell had only 10,000 men and the 
Turks numbered twice as many, it was very 

33 



34 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

important that at once there should be some 
communication between the town and the 
army which had come to help it. When 
Smith met Lord Ebersbaugh in Italy, they 
had talked over together certain signals 
made by waving lights, and the young sol- 
dier immediately thought that such a 
scheme might be useful at this critical 
time, if indeed his friend remembered their 
conversation. All through Smith's life we 
shall find that he was brave and resource- 
ful in times of grave emergency and never 
failed those who trusted and relied on him. 
He asked his general therefore to give him 
men and torches that he might go to a hill 
near by and signal the town, and the Baron 
was glad to let him try his experiment. 

Smith set up three torches on the top of 
the hill, and pretty soon out shone three 
torches from the town, showing that the 
besieged general saw and remembered. 
Then Smith spelled out this message,— 
waving the torch a certain number of times 
for each letter, Ebersbaugh repeating each 



THE SIEGE OF OBER LIMBACII. 35 

time to show that he understood: *^0n 
Thursday at night I will charge on the 
East, at the alarm do you start out. ' ' This 
was a very slow and clumsy way of doing 
what we do so quickly now by the process 
called wigwagging, but it seemed very won- 
derful then, and certainly accomplished its 
purpose. 

In the mean time spies sent out by the 
general had come back saying that the 
enemy's forces were divided into two parts 
by a river. This made Smith think of 
another scheme, that they should fasten 
two or three thousand bits of fuse to lines 
stretched out on the other side of the city 
from the one where Baron Kisell would 
make his attack; and the general agreed 
to this also. They lighted these pieces of 
fuse just before the attack was made, and 
the Turks, thinking it was a line of soldiers 
firing their muskets,— for guns in that day 
were set off by putting a lighted match to 
the touch-hole, started to attack that line. 
This took them away from the side the 



36 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

Baron was planning to charge, and in a 
moment they were attacked on their unpro- 
tected flank by the troops from both inside 
and out of the city, and were thrown into 
confusion ; and those who were not drowned 
or shot, fled. The general was so delighted 
with the success of our hero's experiments, 
that he gave him a command of 250 horse- 
men, and Smith became Captain John 
Smith, and as such he is imown to this day. 
Though a general peace was now pro- 
claimed because of this great victory, the 
Turks had no intention of stopping their 
fighting, but instead they at once began to 
enlarge their armies. Whereupon the Ger- 
man Emperor, with the assistance of other 
Christian nations, placed three armies in 
the field, one of which was commanded by 
the French prince, whose wife has already 
been spoken of, Duke Mercury. It was 
under this general that Captain John 
Smith, still in the Earl of Meldritch's regi- 
ment, was to fight. This army was 30,000 
strong, of which number nearly 10,000 



THE SIEGE OF OBER LIMBACH. 37 

were French, and with it Duke Mercury 
set out to besiege the town of Alba Rega- 
lis, a place so strong by art and nature, 
Smith tells us, that it was thought to be 
impregnable. At the approach of the army 
the Turks made a sally by night and at- 
tacking the German quarter slew nearly 
500 and returned before it was known 
that they were there. The next night they 
did almost as much damage to the Hun- 
garians and others near them,— the army 
seems to have been divided according to 
nationalities,— but when they tried the 
French they were surprised in their turn 
and lost eight or nine hundred men. 

At last, being tired of these sorties and 
surprises, Earl Meldritch found out from 
refugees where there were the largest 
gatherings of people in the city, and then 
ordered Captain John Smith to make use 
of another device which he had learned 
on his travels, called the fiery dragons. 
These were made of round earthern pots 
filled with gunpowder covered with a mix- 



38 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

ture of pitch, brimstone and turpentine. 
Into this mixture were stuck many musket 
balls, partly cut into four pieces, and all 
this deadly compound was covered with 
cloth made into a sort of fuse. These terri- 
ble dragons were fitted into slings and shot 
over the city as near to the crowded places 
of assembly as they could calculate. Cap- 
tain Smith thus describes the result: ^^It 
was a fearful sight to see the short flaming 
course of their flight in the air, but pres- 
ently after their fall the lamentable noise 
of the miserable slaughtered Turks was 
most wonderful to hear. ' ' In the midst of 
the general alarm different suburbs of the 
city were set on fire by the besiegers ; 
and finally, stormed on all sides, the city 
fell into the hands of the French Duke and 
the Turkish ruler, or Bashaw, was taken 
prisoner in his own palace by Colonel Mel- 
dritch. The Duke was very proud of this 
prisoner and of the captured city, so long 
a stronghold of the Turks, and set about 
repairing it. The Turks with an army of 



THE SIEGE OF OBER LIMBACH. 39 

60,000 made efforts in several battles to 
retake the city but were repulsed eaeli 
time, tliough with great loss to the Em- 
peror's troops; in one of these fights Cap- 
tain Smith's horse was killed under him 
and he himself was sore wounded. 

Then came a time of inaction because 
of the serious defeats which the Turks had 
undergone; and the Duke, after dividing 
his army into three parts and giving them 
all different commissions, returned to Vi- 
enna where he received great honor for 
all he had accomplished, but where to the 
sorrow of all, he suddenly died. 

In the division of his army Duke Mer- 
cury had sent the troops under the Earl 
of Meldritch, Smith's commander, to Tran- 
sylvania. Here they found a mixed up 
state of things. Much of the beautiful and 
fertile little country was in the hands of 
the Turks, some was ruled over by a native 
prince, '^who had the hearts of both coun- 
try and people," and the German Em- 
peror was eager to get possession of the 



40 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

whole. And on the frontier, amongst the 
almost impassable mountains, were camps 
and garrisons, some for the Emperor, 
some for the Prince, and some in the hands 
of the hostile Turks. 

Now Colonel Meldritch had been sent by 
the Duke, his general, to fight for the Em- 
peror; but being a native Transylvanian 
himself, he was in sympathy with the 
native prince, whose name was Sigismund, 
and easily persuaded his soldiers to fight 
for him against the Turks, instead of for 
the Emperor against the Prince, as ordered. 
Prince Sigismund was delighted to have 
as brave an officer as the Earl and so many 
and experienced soldiers in his army. He 
showed this by making Meldritch camp- 
master of the whole army and giving him 
permission to plunder the Turks at will. 
The journey into the mountains had been 
made in the cold of a terrible winter and 
Smith gives us a little idea of how much 
the troops suffered from it by saying that 
the other army sent into the field had lost 



THE SIEGE OF OBER LIMBACH. 41 

three or four hundred men by freezing in 
a single night. So we can imagine these 
soldiers were most grateful for the kind 
reception given them by Prince Sigismund 
and were very willing to do battle for him ; 
and we see Smith still able to fulfil his boy- 
ish wish, made when he left Holland, to 
fight the Turks rather than the Christians. 
Then came sallies into the mountain 
fastnesses where were many Turks as well 
as bandits and outlaws. The city, Regall, 
which Meldritch wished to capture lay in 
the plain beyond and could be reached only 
through a narrow valley which the enemy 
held. This he gained possession of by 
means of a clever stratagem. He sent a 
small body of men through the valley driv- 
ing before them a herd of cattle, and when 
the enemy saw how few soldiers were with 
the cattle they rushed out to capture them 
and were attacked in their turn by Mel- 
dritch and his men who were in hiding near 
by, and were all made prisoners. When 
by this means Meldritch reached the city 



42 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

of Eegall and decided to storm it, he 
found that they must wait about six days 
in order to bring their cannon over the 
rough roads through the hills. In the mean 
time his army lay inactive while the Turks 
made their city still stronger. Then they 
attacked the besiegers in their tents, 
and though the Turks were driven back 
to the gates, the loss on both sides was 
about 1500. 

Finally the Transylvanian general ap- 
peared to reinforce Meldritch, with his 
army of 9000, and they all spent a month 
putting up entrenchments as a protection 
against the guns on the city walls. The 
Turks made great fun of all this seeming 
inactivity, said they were growing fat for 
lack of exercise, and at last sent this chal- 
lenge to the Christians: ^^That to delight 
the ladies who did long to see some court- 
like pastime, the Lord Turbashaw (a Turk- 
ish officer) did defy any officer who had 
command of a company, who durst com- 
bat with him for his head. ' ' The challenge 



THE SIEGE OF OBER LIMBACII. 43 

was discussed in the Christian army and 
finally accepted, but there were so many 
captains eager to fight that they had to 
draw lots and the choice fell on Captain 
John Smith. 

This was the age of tilt and trial by 
sword, and all both noble and low-born 
loved the sight of single combat. Truce 
was therefore declared for a time, the ram- 
parts were covered with knights and fair 
ladies, and at the sound of music the Lord 
Turbashaw entered the field. He was very 
splendidly armed and accoutred and was 
attended by three soldiers. The onlookers 
had not long to wait before Smith appeared 
in much simpler array, attended only by 
one page carrying his lance. But when 
the trumpet sounded he made the charge 
with such effect that at his first blow he 
ran the Turk through the head and face 
with his lance so that he fell to the ground 
dead. Smith alighted, cut off his oppo- 
nent's head, gave the body back to his 
friends, and returned without any hurt at 



44 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

all. He was welcomed with joy by the 
whole army and presented the captured 
head to the general who graciously ac- 
cepted it. 

But the Turks were filled with rage, and 
one Grualgo, the friend of Lord Turba- 
shaw, sent a particular challenge to the 
victor to meet him on the field in single 
combat the next day : determined to regain 
his friend's head or to lose his own, with 
his horse and armor besides. This chal- 
lenge was accepted and the meeting took 
place, and at the first shock the Turk was 
nearly unhorsed. Then came pistols and 
at the second shot the Turk was wounded 
in the left arm and fell to the ground, 
helpless. There Smith cut off his head 
and taking possession of that with the 
horse and armor, sent back his unlucky 
opponent's body in its rich clothing to the 
town. From that time on many light 
skirmishes took place, but as the soldiers 
were still working on the entrenchments 
and were not ready for a general battle, 




to y 

^ e 

o c 

Lu n, 



2 fm 



THE SIEGE OF OBER LIMBACII. 45 

Captain Smith in his turn sent a challenge 
to the besieged town. He said he wished 
the ladies to know that he was not so eager 
to keep the heads of their admirers, and 
that if any one came to redeem them he 
should have his too if he could get it. 

It seems strange that the Turks were 
not discouraged by this time, but on the 
contrary the challenge was at once accepted 
by a man Smith calls Bonny Mulgro. The 
fight this time was begun with pistols and 
as no hurt was done, battle axes followed, 
and with these the fight waxed fast and 
furious. Both soldiers were nearly un- 
horsed and Smith lost his axe, whereupon 
a great shout went up from the city walls. 
But they rejoined too soon, for though 
Bonny Mulgro prosecuted his advantage 
to the uttermost of his power, yet his op- 
ponent,— as he himself so graphically de- 
scribes it— ^^by the readiness of his horse, 
and his judgment and dexterity beyond all 
men's expectation, by God's assistance, 
not only avoided the Turk's violence, but 



46 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

having drawn his sword, pierced the Turk 
through his body that he fell from his 
horse and lost his head as the rest had 
done." Here we see the value of all that 
practising with horse and lance which took 
place in the wood near Willoughby. This 
success gave great encouragement to the 
whole army and Captain Smith was con- 
ducted to the general's presence by a guard 
of 6000, the three Turks' heads being car- 
ried on lances before three riderless horses. 
The general received him with much kind- 
ness and gave him a richly saddled horse 
and a very costly sword and belt; and his 
commander, Earl Meldritch, made him 
Major of his regiment. 

By now the ramparts were finished and 
all was ready for the attack on Regall. 
The Turks were gallant defenders, but 
their walls were broken down by the can- 
non which from the new fortifications now 
commanded the town, and the breaches thus 
made were stormed by the Christians and 
the besieged people driven back into the 



THE SIEGE OF OBER LIMBACH. 47 

castle. There they asked for a truce, but 
Earl Meldritch too well remembered their 
cruelty when they first took the place from 
the inhabitants of the country. So, storm- 
ing the castle, he put all able to bear arms 
to death and took the women and children 
prisoners. The loss to the Christian army 
had also been very severe and in revenge 
the general sacked other towns, so taking 
to Prince Sigismund at last about 3000 
prisoners and 36 ensigns. The Prince was 
also told the services which Captain Smith 
had rendered through his devices with 
torches and fire-works, and finally about 
his contests single-handed with three 
Turks. Thereupon the Prince gave him a 
coat of arms, the proof of nobility, with 
three Turks' heads upon it and also 300 
ducats, a goodly sum of money, yearly as 
a pension. This last, I am sorry to say, 
so far as we know, Smith never received. 

The Emperor by now had become im- 
patient to possess this country he had so 
set his heart on but which from being one 



48 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

of the most fruitful in Europe, had become 
the **very spectacle of desolation— their 
fruits and fields overgrown with weeds, 
their churches and battered palaces and 
best buildings as for fear hid with moss 
and ivy.'* Indeed it is hard to see why 
he was so eager to own it ; but he was, and 
sent a large army under General Busca 
to take possession. Prince Sigismund, see- 
ing he was not nearly strong enough to 
stand against this force, surrendered and 
gave up his country to the Emperor of Ger- 
many, he himself being settled under very 
honorable conditions at Prague. 



IV. 

Taken Pkisonek, He Escapes and Finally 
Reaches England. 

This change of front on the part of 
Prince Sigismnnd left the Earl of Mel- 
dritch and the foreign troops under him 
with nothing to do. But in the mean time 
the Emperor had learned that there was 
trouble in Wallachia, another small coun- 
try near by; and that the Turks had sent 
a prince there to rule the country, against 
whom the inhabitants were rebelling. It 
seemed to the Emperor then, a good time 
to annex that country also, so he ordered 
General Busca to proceed there from 
Transylvania, and with him went Earl Mel- 
dritch and his men. 

They found the enemy strongly en- 

49 



50 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

camped and settled down near them, killing 
what scouts they could and at the same 
time losing many of their own camp-fol- 
lowers. At last, not knowing how else to 
induce the Turks to fight, Busca drew off 
his men slowly, burning and plundering 
as they went. This enraged the encamped 
Turks and also encouraged them, for they 
thought the German force was retreating 
because of the rumor that a large Turkish 
army was coming as a reinforcement. 
They therefore urged their commander to 
lead them out in pursuit of the retreating 
army. After two days of this pursuit, 
which was of course what the German army 
wanted in order that they might choose 
their ground, they turned furiously upon 
their pursuers and a tremendous battle 
ensued in which the Christians were vic- 
torious and 25,000 men were left dead on 
the field. In this battle as in all the others, 
Earl Meldritch showed great personal 
bravery, and we may be sure he was ably 
seconded by his captain, John Smith. 



TAKEN PRISONER, HE ESCAPES. 51 

This won the country for the Emperor; 
but there was no rest for the soldiers, for 
news came that bands of Turks were for- 
aging in another part of the country, and 
Meldritch with 13,000 men was sent in pur- 
suit of these marauders. It was not long 
before he learned that he was setting out 
against an army of 30,000 men, and that 
Jeremie, the former Turkish ruler of Wal- 
lachia., was coming with 15,000 more. Mel- 
dritch immediately fell back towards the 
town of Rottenton, but soon found that he 
was nearly surrounded by these over- 
whelming forces of the enemy. From 
scouts and prisoners he learned the posi- 
tion of the Turkish army, and that his only 
way of retreat lay through a valley in 
Jeremie 's possession. Then Captain Smith 
again came to the rescue with another 
stratagem which Meldritch immediately put 
into execution. He caused the soldiers to 
attach to the tips of their lances pieces of 
wood on which something he calls wild 
fire (perhaps phosphorus) had been 



52 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

rubbed. Then holding these before them 
the soldiers rushed in the night through 
the lines of the enemy. The rapid mo- 
tion made the pieces of wood blaze forth 
such flames and sparkles that it frightened 
both horses and men ; and the horses in the 
front ranks turned tail with such fury that 
by their violence they overthrew and tram- 
pled on their own comrades, without any 
loss at all to speak of to Meldritch. In this 
way the Christian army succeeded in get- 
ting nearly to Eottenton, but within three 
leagues of the town the enemy with 40,000 
men so beset them that they must either 
fight or be cut in pieces flying. 

We may be sure it did not take the 
brave Meldritch long to decide, though he 
knew the fight to be hopeless. He arranged 
his men in the best manner he could, but 
after a desperate and brave struggle, 
almost the entire army was destroyed and 
the Earl barely escaped with his life. In 
this dismal battle many brave gentlemen 
and soldiers were slain, only a few getting 



TAKEN PRISONER, HE ESCAPES. 53 

off alive, even as prisoners. Captain Smith 
was left for dead, and lay groaning among 
the slaughtered bodies until he was found 
by the pillagers who saw that he was still 
living. They felt sure because of the rich- 
ness of his arms and clothes that his ran- 
som would be of more value to them than 
his death, and so took him prisoner with 
several others. He was used well by his 
captors until his wounds were healed, and 
then was sold for a slave in the open mar- 
ket, where men were thought of and treated 
almost as animals. He was bought by a 
Turkish prince and was sent by him as a 
gift to his lady love in Constantinople, 
hoping in this way to gain her favor. By 
twenty and twenty chained by the necks, 
the slaves were marched to the great city 
and there Smith was delivered to his future 
mistress, the Princess Tragabigzanda, for 
whose kindness he was grateful to the end 
of his life. 

This Princess did not return the affec- 
tion of her Turkish admirer and soon be- 



54 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

came greatly interested in her new slave. 
She tried to discover his nationality and 
what had been his life before he was sent 
to her. Wlien she learned through inter- 
preters that he was an Englishman, and 
of his many and brave adventures, she de- 
termined that he should be taught her lan- 
guage and educated as a Turk. Then lest 
her mother should sell him to some one 
else, she sent him to her brother in Gam- 
bia with many directions as to kind treat- 
ment. The journey was long and interest- 
ing, and Smith noticed many curious facts 
about the countries then in the power 
of the Turks, and the customs of this brave 
and warlike but cruel people. He never 
went to a new place without seeing and 
remembering its peculiar characteristics, 
and so he was constantly increasing his 
knowledge and experience. 

In spite of all the kind princess ' instruc- 
tions, when Captain Smith reached the 
great stone tower where her brother lived 
he was treated with the greatest cruelty. 



TAKEN PRISONER, HE ESCAPES. 55 

Perhaps this man, who was a Turkish 
official, thought his sister was taking too 
much interest in a Christian slave and that 
she, maybe, hoped some day to set him free 
and marry him. Whatever he thought, he 
ordered that the new slave should be 
stripped of his clothes and a rough hair 
coat put on him. His head and beard were 
shaved— a mark of shame— and an iron 
ring was put about his neck. There were 
many more Christian slaves Smith tells us, 
and also Turks and Moors, and he was 
slave of slaves to them all. ^' Among these 
slavish fortunes there was no great choice, 
for the best was so bad a dog could hardly 
have lived to endure, and yet for all their 
pains and labors they were no more re- 
garded than a beasf In fact they were 
used for work as we use beasts. 

The only hope Smith had of escaping 
from this terrible imprisonment was the 
affection he was sure the Princess Traga- 
bigzanda had for him; yet he knew she 
was ignorant of the way he was now being 



56 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

treated. Althougli he and some other 
Christian prisoners had often talked over 
ways of escape, there seemed to be none, 
^^but God beyond man's imagination help- 
eth his servants when they least think of 
help,'' and at last a chance came. They 
made Smith a thresher on one of the cniel 
ruler's farms which the Turk often visited, 
using the slaves at work there with great 
cruelty if anything annoyed him. On this 
particular occasion the Turk became angry 
at Smith and so beat and reviled him 
that the slave, forgetting all reason, beat 
out his wicked master's brains with his 
rough threshing bat, for they had no flails. 
Then he put on the Turk's clothes as a 
disguise, hid the body under the straw, 
filled his knapsack with corn, shut the doors, 
mounted the Turk's horse, and so fled into 
the desert. 

Two or three days he wandered, not know- 
ing whither. At last he came to a high 
road on which at intervals there were sign- 
posts painted in curious devices, repre- 



TAKEN PRISONER, HE ESCAPES. 57 

senting the countries to which the cross- 
roads led. He chose the sign of the cross 
which marked the road leading to Russia, 
and travelled for sixteen days, fearful of 
meeting anyone lest he should be captured 
and returned to his terrible slavery. On 
the last of these days which seemed to him 
endless, he came to Ecopolis, a town of the 
Russians, where he at once found friends. 
For the governor of the place, hearing 
his story, took oif his iron collar and so 
kindly used him he thought himself new 
risen from death, and the governor's lady 
largely supplied all his wants. Then giv- 
ing him friendly letters to other governors, 
they sent him on from province to prov- 
ince, and he everywhere received the kind- 
est treatment, till at last he came to Tran- 
sylvania again. ^^In all his life,'' he tells 
us, *^he seldom met with more respect, 
mirth, content, and entertainment" than 
during this long journey, and ^^not any 
governor to whom he came but gave him 



58 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

some present, besides treating him as an 
honored guest.'' 

All this kindness, Smith was sure, was 
because the same evil chance might very 
likely befall any one of them. For these 
little countries through which he had come 
were constantly being warred against by 
one great power or another, and this in 
spite of the fact that, as Smith says, *Hhey 
are countries rather to be pitied than en- 
vied and it is a wonder any should make 
wars for them." It was impossible to trav- 
el through them except in the company of 
caravans because of marauders and bandits. 
The villages were scattered and consisted 
of only a few houses made of fir trees laid 
one above the other, and made fast by 
notches and by wooden pins. *^In ten 
villages you would scarce find ten iron nails 
unless it be in some extraordinary man's 
house." All the towns were fortified by 
having deep ditches dug around them and 
by palisades of fir trees, and some had 
small cannon; but the weapons of the 



TAKEN PRISONER, HE ESCAPES. 59 

soldiers mostly consisted of bows and 
arrows. 

In Transylvania Smith found so many 
good friends, that if he had not longed to 
see England again, he could not have made 
up his mind to leave them. However he 
soon started on his journey towards home, 
first coming to where his Colonel was with 
Prince Sigismund. They gave him his 
papers of discharge and passports, to- 
gether with 1500 ducats (about $2500) to 
repair his losses. 

In spite of his hurry to see England, Cap- 
tain Smith was too enthusiastic a traveler 
to leave any countries unvisited on his way, 
and as he now had plenty of money he 
stopped in many towns and cities, and 
finally went down into Spain. There he 
heard of the wars in Barbary, a country in 
Africa, and he seems to have had a desire 
to fight the Turk once more. So born sol- 
dier and adventurer that he was, he took 
ship at Gibraltar for Morocco and Tan- 
giers. Here he had many curious adven- 



60 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

tures and heard many strange stories which 
he tells as they were told to him. One 
man, Henry Archer, whom he met there, 
told him that he had once made a pet of 
a lion cub which slejDt on his bed and was 
as tame as a puppydog. As he had to re- 
turn to England, he gave the lion, now 
grown as large as a mastiff, away. The 
animal was finally taken to England, and 
presented to King James, and lived in the 
Tower seven years. One day a servant of 
this same Master Archer went to the tower 
to see the lions, not knowing his master's 
former pet was there. * ' Yet this rare beast 
smelled him before he saw him,'' and 
showed by so many signs that he knew him 
that the keepers opened the door and let the 
man into the cage. There the lion fawned 
on him as would any dog, licking his hands 
and face and tumbling to and fro to the 
wonder of all the beholders. And finally 
when the man went, the lion expressed his 
sorrow by bellowing and roaring, and for 
four days refused to eat. 



TAKEN PRISONER, HE ESCAPES. 61 

This and other lion stories made a great 
impression on our traveler, as also did his 
first sight of elephants. He says of these : 
*^ Though some report they cannot kneel 
nor lie down, they can do both and have 
their joints, as other creatures, for use; 
with their four feet they will leap upon 
(push against) trees to pull down the 
boughs, and are of that strength they will 
shake a great cocar tree for the nuts, and 
pull down a good tree with their tusks to 
get the leaves to eat, as well as sedge and 
long grass, cocar nuts and berries, etc., 
which with their trunk they put in their 
mouth and chew it with their smaller 
teeth. '^ 

When Smith had visited all this coast 
of Africa and found that the wars in Bar- 
bary consisted rather of perfidious, treach- 
erous, and bloody murders, than the fight- 
ing he cared to take part in, he began again 
to plan for home. At the port of Safi, he 
made the acquaintance of a Captain Mer- 
ham, commander of a man-of-war lying 



62 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

in the harbor, and accepted his invitation 
to go aboard with his companions and in- 
spect the ship. Talking and entertainment 
kept them there until it was too late to go 
on shore that evening. At midnight such 
a storm arose they were obliged to put to 
sea to escape being dashed on shore, and 
were driven before the wind as far as the 
Canary Islands. Here they lay trying to 
make the best of the trip they had not plan- 
ned for, and looking for what fortune they 
could find. We should say they turned pi- 
rates for they captured a small bark laden 
with wine and stopped two other boats. 
These however, returned evil with good, for 
they warned Captain Merham that there 
were two men-of-war near by. He attempt- 
ed to get away without being discovered by 
these larger craft, but was hailed, chased, 
and finally fired upon by two Spanish ships 
which came down upon him from some un- 
seen harbor. Thereupon a terrific sea- 
fight took place. The French ship was 
boarded and both French and Spanish suf- 



TAKEN PRISONER, HE ESCAPES. 63 

fered severe loss. It is hard to see from 
Captain Smith's description how the 
smaller boat possibly escaped, attacked as 
it was by two fierce sea-fighters, one on one 
side and one on the other, until because of 
the cannon shots there was little light but 
only fire and smoke. The fight lasted two 
afternoons and half the night, the time be- 
tween being spent by the French boat in 
trying to get away. Twice was she boarded 
and once she was badly on fire, but in all 
that time she was brave and defiant and 
refused to surrender or to promise tribute 
to Spain. 

At last, with twenty-seven men killed 
and sixteen wounded, and with 140 great 
shot imbedded or leaving marks in her 
keel, she managed to steal away from her 
assailants and came again to the port her 
captain had so unexpectedly left. This 
fully satisfied all our hero's desire for ad- 
venture for the present anyway, and he 
made all speed to England. 



V. 

The Journey to America. 

Captain Smith returned to England in 
the year 1604, when he was 25 years old. 
He found all the country interested in 
schemes for colonies, as England has been 
ever since. But at that time the wonder- 
land of America lay before them, a field 
for all sorts of adventure. Ever since the 
amazing voyage of Columbus, Spain had 
been sending expedition after expedition 
to the new world. Cortez had conquered 
Mexico and sent back untold wealth to his 
king, besides all the plunder he and his 
soldiers enjoyed. Various explorations 
had been made by brave men farther north 
— in Florida and along the Gulf — with 
varying success, and England was begin- 

64 



THE JOURNEY TO AMERICA. 65 

ning to realize that her rival was outstrip- 
ping her in the search for land and gold. 
All the English adventurers who had come 
home from foreign wars were impatient 
to see this western land where precious 
metals could be picked up in lumps and 
fountains of youth gushed from the ground. 
Marvellous accounts were given of treas- 
ures beyond human imagination to be had 
almost for the asking, and men grew more 
and more credulous of stories which sound 
to us now no better than fairy tales. Only 
leaders were needed, and more money to 
fit out expeditions; and these were soon 
supplied. 

Sir Walter Raleigh, whose imagination 
had been fired by some of these wonderful 
tales, and who loved adventure for its own 
sake, had sent out several ships whose cap- 
tains were more or less successful. In 
1584, before Smith was born, two of these 
vessels sailed along the coast of the Caro- 
linas, and landing in a small bay took pos- 
session of all the country around in the 



66 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

name of the Qneen. and called it Virginia, 
They did not attempt to settle, it was easier 
to give a conntry a name than to prove its 
right to it by establishing a colony; they 
were waiting for Captain Smith to do that. 
The next year, and many times in the 
years immediately following nnsnccessful 
e:fiLorts were made to colonize Virginia imtil 
even brave Sir Walter was disconraged, 
his money gone, and he himself sent to 
prison by jealous King James who had snc- 
ceeded Elizabeth. 

Finally in 16()2, just two years before 
Smith came home, a Captain Gosnold sailed 
across the Atlantic and bronght back a load 
of sassafras and more descriptions of Vir- 
ginia. This roused fresh interest and ships 
were again sent, and thongh no permanent 
settlements were made there were no ship- 
wrecks, and men slowly became familiar 
with the long dangerous trip and recovered 
from the discouragement they had been 
feeling. 

Then came this brave adventurous vouth 



THE JOURNEY TO AMERICA. 67 

of 25, fresh from his wonderful escape 
from the Turks and full of horror for the 
sort of war he had found in Africa. The 
idea of building up a town instead of tear- 
ing and burning one down, of helping 
people to live instead of killing them, 
appealed to him strongly; and he joined 
Gosnold and some others in an attempt to 
fit up a colonizing expedition. At first 
they succeeded in obtaining only a patent 
or permission from the king. This granted 
to the petitioners the territory from what 
is now the border of Maryland to the 
boundary line between Vermont and Can- 
ada, to be settled by two colonies. The 
southern part of this grant belonged to the 
first colony of which Smith was a part. 

By the end of two years the petitioners 
had secured from noblemen and merchants 
interested in the possible wealth to be 
gained from the scheme, money enough to 
equip three vessels. These were the /S^/.^a ^z- 
Constant, under Captain Christopher New- 
port who was in command of the expedition, 



68 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

the Godspeed, under Captain Bartholomew 
Gosnold, and the Discovery under John 
Eatcliffe. All these men we shall hear of 
later. 

The company which was to sail in 
these ships was too mixed to be harmonious 
and had no appointed head. The king 
wished to settle all important questions for 
them, and very stupidly had given them 
their instructions for the government of 
the colony and the names of the future 
officers in a sealed box to be opened when 
they should reach Virginia. Smith gives 
us a list of the men with whom he sailed: 
**48 gentlemen, 12 laborers, 4 carpenters, 
1 bricklayer, 1 tailor, 1 mason, 1 barber, 1 
drummer, 1 sailor, 2 surgeons, and 4 
boys.*' The *^ gentlemen" were most of 
them adventurers, unwilling to work, very 
ready to quarrel, and only eager for 
wealth for themselves, not for the good of 
the colony. There was one clergyman 
among them, the Rev. Mr. Hunt, who in 
spite of great feebleness on the voyage did 



THE JOURNEY TO AMERICA. 69 

his best to keep the peace, and things really 
were better because he was with them. 
Another important man was Edward Maria 
Wingfield who was associated with Smith 
and Gosnold in getting up the expedition. 

The three little ships, one of only 20 tons' 
burden, set sail on the 19th of December, 
1606, but were detained by bad weather 
until it was fully ^six weeks before they 
were fairly out of sight of England. On 
the way there were many alarms for the 
superstitious. The 12th of February they 
saw a blazing star ; and then came a storm, 
caused they thought by the star ; and partly 
to break the perilous journey, partly to take 
on fresh water and provisions, they steered 
their course for the Canaries. 

But this unfriendly company had been 
quarreling all the way, and when the 
Islands were sighted, bad feeling had 
reached such a height that some one had 
to suffer. Why this should have been John 
Smith we do not know; but to judge from 
some accounts of the trip there was much 



70 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

angry feeling against him. He had had 
more experience than any other member 
of the company, and perhaps in the lack 
of a president tried to take command. He 
had always wanted his own way and had 
not lost his old wilfulness. Then he was 
certainly the one best fitted to be leader 
and that only made the others jealous. 
There was much trouble, a mutiny was 
threatened — evidently some of the party 
took Captain Smith's side — and if it had 
not been for the peace-maker, Mr. Hunt, 
the ships might all have turned back. They 
contented themselves, however, with put- 
ting Smith in chains, and he remained a 
prisoner till long after they reached Vir- 
ginia. 

After the party left the Canaries they 
stopped at the little Island of Nevis in the 
"West Indies, and finding it a fertile and 
beautiful spot stayed there about a week 
to rest and refresh the men. There they 
threatened to hang their prisoner, but, as 
he says, he could not be persuaded to use 



THE JOURNEY TO AMERICA. 71 

the gallows which they had put up for the 
purpose, and perhaps the beauty of the 
place and the good hunting they found 
quieted their feeling a little. At any rate 
they gave up their dreadful plan and con- 
tinued exploring this and the neighboring 
islands. They found many things that sur- 
jjrised them. On Nevis was a warm pool— 
what we should call a hot spring— the like 
of which the English had never seen. In 
this the men much enjoyed bathing, and in 
another, very much hotter, they succeeded 
in boiling a piece of pork. In one place 
they took from the bushes with their hands 
about two hogsheads full of birds in two 
or three hours ; the wild things had not yet 
learned to be afraid of hunters. In another 
l^lace they came upon a horrid beast like 
a crocodile ; and tortoises, pelicans, parrots 
and strange fishes abounded. All through 
the West Indies canoes full of Indians— 
salvages the English called them — came out 
to greet them, and the company was greatly 
amazed at their strange customs. They 



72 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

brought out to the ships all sorts of fruit, 
such as pineapples and bananas, with sweet 
potatoes and tobacco. They also had a 
sort of cloth which they exchanged for 
beads, knives, and hatchets. ^^They paint 
their bodies red, ' ' says one of the company, 
*4o keep off the mosquitoes; their hair is 
a yard long and braided in three plaits; 
they also tattoo their skin. They are 
always at war and will eat their enemies 
when they take them, and they poison their 
arrow-heads which are made of fish-bone.'* 
Surely a strange people and different in 
some ways from the Indians the travelers 
are to meet farther north. And although 
whenever the English landed they kept a 
very strict watch, they never saw the slight- 
est attempt at hostility on the part of 
these salvages, only a great curiosity, and 
a willingness to trade. 

After leaving the islands, the ships lost 
their way; land did not appear where 
they expected to find it, and poor fright- 
ened Captain Eatcliffe was so discouraged 



THE JOURNEY TO AMERICA. 73 

that he wanted to turn back. But in the 
nick of time a storm from the south seized 
them and proving to be their best friend, 
drove them northward during two days 
of terror and despair toward exactly the 
harbor they needed. The first point of land 
they saw, they hailed with joy and named 
Cape Henry in honor of the Prince of 
Wales. Then another appeared beyond 
this, and there between lay Chesapeake 
Bay, the beauty of which surprised and 
delighted the despondent and tired out 
travellers. 

On the morning of April 26, 1607, Cap- 
tain Newport, Captain Gosnold, and twenty 
or thirty others landed and began to explore 
the shores of Cape Henry. They found 
there * ^faire meadows and goodly tall trees, 
with fresh waters running through the 
woods. ' ' They also found in a later search 
large and delicate oysters in which occa- 
sional pearls were seen, also strawberries, 
fully four times bigger and finer than those 
in England. Altogether it seemed a goodly 



74 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

land with but one drawback. Around a 
slope of a nearby hill came four or five 
savages creeping on all fours like bears 
and carrying their bows in their mouths. 
^' These charged the English very desper- 
erately in the faces," wounded one of the 
adventurers in both his hands and a sailor 
in two places in his body very dangerously. 
The English returned fire but the savages 
escaped unhurt — truly not a cordial wel- 
come to the new world. 

But they could not be discouraged now, 
and before going back to the boats, the 
little company opened the sealed box in 
which were their instructions. Here they 
found the names for a council of seven: 
Captain Gosnold, Edward Wingfield, Cap- 
tain Newport, John Smith, John Ratclitfe, 
John Martin, and George Kendall. The 
instructions read that a president was to 
be elected from this council and all mat- 
ters of importance were to be determined 
by it, after being examined into by a jury. 

From this time until the 13th of May, 



THE JOURNEY TO AMERICA. 75 

the men made trips of discovery to all parts 
of the bay, looking for the best location 
for the city they were going to build and 
the best land for farming. They built a 
small boat for cruising in these quiet waters 
and began to search out the rivers. Eu- 
ropeans still had hopes of discovering a 
channel through to the Pacific and in that 
way a shorter route to China and the East ; 
and all colonists were instructed, as these 
had been, to seek for navigable rivers and 
then to explore them ^ ^ especially that which 
bendeth most toward the North West, for 
that way you shall soonest find the other 
sea.'' It was to take many men many ter- 
rible journeys before Europe should find 
out the great size of the land they were 
attempting to colonize. 

After sounding several channels and 
finding to their disappointment only shal- 
low waters, streams whose banks were 
covered with flowers of many kinds and 
colors, and with cedar, cypress, and differ- 
ent kinds of trees, the explorers rowed to 



76 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

a point of land where at last they found 
a deep channel which promised much. 
^'This put us in good comfort,'' writes one 
of the number, *' Therefore we named the 
point of land Cape Comfort." It keeps 
the name to this day and we know the very, 
spot as Old Point Comfort. 

A few days later the ships were brought 
to this cape and then all on board saw sav- 
ages running about on the shore who at 
first seemed very timid but later responded 
to friendly gestures and invited the strange 
white men to come on shore and visit their 
towns. This was done, and during the 
next several days Captain Newport and 
some of the adventurers visited three or 
four Indian villages, received by the differ- 
ent chiefs with much kindness and cere- 
mony. The English were impressed by 
the great gravity and dignity of these 
rulers and by the many entertainments 
given for the amusement of the travellers. 
Mats were brought out for them to sit on, 
they wer^ served with all the best food the 



THE JOURNEY TO AMERICA. 77 

savages could provide, and in one place 
there was a strange dance performed in 
this manner: '^One of the savages stand- 
ing in the midst singing, beating one hand 
against the other ; all the rest dancing about 
him, shouting, howling, and stamping 
against the ground, with many antic tricks 
and faces, making noises like so many 
wolves or devils/' 

At last, after these various wanderings 
and explorations, the place for a settlement 
was chosen and named Jamestown in honor 
of the King of England. We can picture 
the discovery of this spot by the eager 
colonists. Sailing from Cape Comfort up 
the broad and beautiful river they had 
found, scanning the shore first on one side 
then on the other to find the best point at 
which to land, they went about thirty miles 
before they saw what they were looking 
for. Jutting out into the river was a sort 
of peninsula connected with the shore by a 
narrow strip of land, and very easy for 
this reason to defend. At the water's edge 



78 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

grew tall reeds and the whole point was 
thickly wooded. The English had had just 
enough experience with the strange people 
they had come among to know that defense 
was a most important consideration, and 
though the spot was not ideal in other ways 
— for one thing, it was too low — its natural 
advantages as a fort made them choose it 
immediately. Then the water was very 
deep all around it so that the ships could 
sail close to the banks and be moored by 
fastening them to some tall trees grow- 
ing there. It was, according to Captain 
Smith, ^^a very fair place for the erecting 
of a great city.'^ As soon as they could 
make a landing, all the provisions were 
taken ashore, and with as much speed as 
might be, they went about the fortification. 
At the same time the council met and Mas- 
ter Wingfield was elected president. Cap- 
tain Smith was not allowed to serve on the 
council for the present, being still a pris- 
oner and held for trial. Wingfield seems 
not to have been a wise choice as he was 



THE JOURNEY TO AMERICA. 79 

hot-tempered and jealous, and instead of 
uniting the colonists was likely to get into 
trouble himself. 

*^Now falleth every man to work," writes 
one of the gentlemen adventurers, ''the 
council contrive (plan) the fort, the rest 
cut down trees to make a place to pitch their 
tents, some provide clapboards to reload 
the ships (they must send something back 
to England as a proof that the scheme was 
worth while) some make gardens, some 
nets, etc." It must have been a busy place 
and we may be sure even the ' ' gentlemen ' ' 
worked— perhaps for the only time in their 
lives. At the very beginning of the settle- 
ment a dispute arose; Mr. Wingfield did 
not think it was necessary to spend much 
time in barricading the fort, except for 
boughs of trees laid one on top of the other ; 
and because of his great jealousy would 
allow of no exercise of arms, thus showing 
his shortsightedness. For they must ex- 
pect other than friendly visits from the 
natives. Indeed about midnight of this 



80 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

first night several Indians came prowling 
around the tents. An alarm was soon given 
and they all ran away. Next time they 
would not be so easily frightened off. 

Then a few days later came two savages 
looking like chiefs, so gayly were they 
dressed; but they said they were mes- 
sengers from the great chief whose village 
the white men had visited and who wished 
to return the visit. Before very long, to 
be sure, came the chief himself, guarded 
by one hundred Indians who were armed 
with bows and arrows. The chief begged 
the strangers to lay aside their arms, which 
had been quickly seized on the approach 
of the Indians, but these hardy sailors were 
too wise and refused to trust the savages 
to that extent. A friendly talk began in 
which the great chief made signs that he 
would give the white men as much land as 
they wished for their buildings. Probably 
he was eager to get in exchange some of the 
curious things which he saw scattered about 
in the tents of the strangers. But while 



THE JOURNEY TO AMERICA. 81 

the heads of the two parties conferred in 
this seemingly peaceable manner, one of 
the crowd of Indians who were examining 
the inside of the fort, stole a hatchet. Its 
owner saw the theft and forcibly took back 
his property, at the same time striking the 
savage on the arm. Another savage, see- 
ing this, came fiercely at the Englishman 
with a wooden sword to beat out his brains 
and there would have been an immediate 
battle, had not the chief realized that now 
while the white men were fully armed was 
no time for a conflict. The Indian has 
always preferred to surprise his foe when 
unarmed and to shoot at him from behind a 
tree, and not in the open as they were then. 
So the visitors departed suddenly and in 
great anger. This occurrence and several 
others like it soon showed the English they 
must be constantly on guard against these 
treacherous forest foes. 

The Virginia colonists were the em- 
ployees of a company in England, and 
were ordered to explore and make maps 



82 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

of the country and to find out all the re- 
sources of the new possessions. So a few 
days later Captain Newport and Captain 
Smith with about twenty others, were 
appointed to explore the James River on 
the banks of which their settlement was 
located,— one of them calls it *Hhe famous- 
est river ever found by any Christian/' 
Captain Newport was in command and 
determined not to return without finding 
the head of the river, the other sea, or the 
mountains where, it was rumored, the In- 
dians procured their great stores of copper 
—you see they had about given up the gold. 
We shall see how successful he was in this 
endeavor. 



VI. 

The Trip up the James. 

Captain Smithes appointment for this 
journey must have been a great surprise 
to him as he had been a prisoner since the 
landing and not allowed to take part in 
the councils and the visits to the Indians. 
Some people think that President Wing- 
field in his jealousy was glad to get him 
out of the colony, and even hoped that in 
possible troubles with the Indians he might 
be injured. But we may just as easily be- 
lieve that they all saw how specially fitted 
this brave, resourceful, energetic man was 
by character and experience for such a 
journey. At any rate he and Captain New- 
port and their men started out on the 22nd 
of May, taking with them provisions and 

83 



84 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

all necessaries belonging to a discovery; 
also many trinkets to give the Indians. 
Before they started there had been some 
trouble with the natives, such as skulking 
visits paid to the fort and some petty 
thefts, and the two leaders of the exploring 
trip knew that their first care must be to 
keep on good terms with these uncertain 
savages. 

George Percy, one of the colonists, gives 
us an interesting description of the great 
river showing how its beauties impressed 
the travellers. 

^ ^ The river ebbs and flows a hundred and 
four score miles where ships of great bur- 
den may harbor in safety'' (but we must 
remember that a ship of great burden to 
them was of a hundred tons or so). 
** Wheresoever we landed upon this river, 
we saw the goodliest woods as beech, oke, 
cedar, cypres'se, walnuts, sassafras, and 
vines in great abundance which hang in 
great clusters on many trees, and other 
trees unknown; and all the grounds be- 



THE TRIP UP THE JAMES. 85 

spred with many sweet and delicate flowers 
of divers colors and kinds. There are also 
many fruits as strawberries, mulberries, 
raspberries and fruits unknown. There 
are many branches of this river which run 
flowing through the woods with great plenty 
of fish of all kinds ; as for sturgeon, all the 
world cannot be compared to it. In this 
country I have seen many great and large 
meadows having excellent good pasture 
for many cattle. There is also great store 
of deer, both red and fallow. There are 
bears, foxes, otters, beavers, muskrats, and 
wild beasts unknown.^' England had been 
so long a civilized land that the wild beauty 
of the primeval forest was a source of won- 
der and delight to the colonists. Captain 
Smith speaks of the great breadth of the 
river and its high banks and the many fresh 
springs of clear water. 

To these banks all through their journey, 
came the Indians offering them, as they 
sailed by, the large fine strawberries they 
had already noticed, little sweet nuts like 



86 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

acorns, and many other fruits, with 
bread, fish and other provisions. Indeed 
there was much kindness and friendly feel- 
ing shown by the natives and Captain New- 
port and Captain Smith met it with kind- 
ness and fair dealing. For whatever the 
Indians gave them, they gave in exchange, 
*^Bels, pinnes, needles beades or Glasses, 
which so contented them (the Indians) that 
his liberality made them follow us from 
place to place and ever kindly to respect 
us.'' 

On the second morning the shallop, as 
the little sail-boat was called, stopped at a 
small island to get water and rest the crew, 
and there they saw a canoe with eight 
Indians going by. Hailing them kindly, 
the English persuaded them to come ashore, 
hoping to find out something from them 
about the journey. It was hard at first of 
course to get into communication with the 
natives, but by means of signs and with 
much patience the English managed to 
make them understand what was wanted. 



THE TRIP UP THE JAMES. 87 

Then one Indian made signs that he would 
describe the country to them, and taking 
the pen and paper handed to him, drew a 
rough map of the whole river from the bay 
to the farthest navigable point, locating 
all islands and shoals. And in every test 
the English made of this map it was found 
to be correct. All along the journey, the 
same Indians met them with food and 
provisions which they eagerly traded for 
trinkets. All the way were the strange 
and beautiful sights Mr. Percy so well de- 
scribed,— turkeys and wild- fowl quite new 
to the white strangers, bright flowers and 
fine trees. The curious customs of the sav- 
ages amused them and everything seemed 
propitious. 

Soon the little body of explorers came to 
an Indian village called Arsatecke, where 
the king, whom they supposed to be the 
chief ruler in his tribe, received them with 
much kindness. He gave them as a guide 
the same Indian who some miles back had 
drawn the map for them, and who was now 



88 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

to take them up as far as Powhatan, their 
principal town, from which place the 
famous king Powhatan, ruler of the tribe, 
took his name. Before they went they were 
feasted and entertained with dances, and 
the king even took off his crown of deer's 
hair, dyed red, and placed it on Captain 
Newport 's head. Leaving there they rowed 
ten miles further, passing little groups of 
Indians gathered on the banks to greet them 
as they went by, and finally came to Pow- 
hatan's Tower, as they named the place. 
Here they were conducted up the hill to the 
great king, and found with him the king of 
Arsatecke whom they had just left. They 
were received by the two chiefs with much 
ceremony, and after many signs of good- 
will, a league of friendship was entered 
into between the English and King Pow- 
hatan. We shall see how loyally this was 
kept. 

Leaving the camp and accompanied by 
several of the Indians the little band of 
explorers rowed on up the stream, but were 



THE TRIP UP THE JAMES. 89 

soon stopped by impassable falls and 
rapids. There were many shallows and the 
water fell with great violence over huge 
craggy rocks. This was a disappointment 
indeed, and after ^'having viewed this 
place between content and grief/' as one 
of them says, ^^we left it for the night, 
determining the next day to fit ourselves 
for a march by land.'' Smith says the 
reason they did not go straight on that 
same day was because the guides whom 
Powhatan sent with them refused to go 
beyond the falls, and that they trifled about 
there all the afternoon admiring the wild 
beauty of the place. I suppose one reason 
why the hills impressed Captain Smith as 
much as they did was because Willoughby 
where he was born was in such a flat and 
marshy region. 

Spending the night on board their little 
boat, they went back to the town next day 
to get provisions for their trip to the coun- 
try above the falls where, they had been 
led to believe by the guide who drew the 



90 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

map for them, they should find gold-bearing 
mountains and the salt sea. Reaching the 
town they found that two of their bags con- 
taining bullets and various toys for trading 
purposes had been stolen. Captain Newport 
immediately informed the king, who caused 
everything instantly to be restored, show- 
ing that he knew well who the thieves were 
and had let them go unpunished,— a curi- 
ous kind of friendship ! Nevertheless, the 
Captain thanked the king and rewarded the 
thieves with the same toys they had stolen, 
carefully keeping the ammunition; but at 
the same time he told them that such of- 
fenses were punishable by death in Eng- 
land. At dinner, to which the English 
invited King Powhatan and his chiefs, 
Captain Newport tried to induce the king 
to tell him how far it was to where the cop- 
per was procured and where the country of 
the high mountains lay, and asked that they 
might have guides for the intended march. 
The king showed great unwillingness to do 
all this and finally told the would-be ex- 



THE TRIP UP THE JAMES. 91 

plorers he could meet them at the falls and 
explain his hesitation. There at a final 
conference he told them of the hardships in 
their way, the dilBficuity they would find in 
getting provisions, and the hostility of the 
Indians in those parts : that their chiefs 
came down at the fall of the leaf and in- 
vaded the country of Powhatan. 

With great reluctance but with much 
wisdom the longer trip was given up and 
the journey back begun, the leaders think- 
ing it more valuable to keep their treaty 
with Powhatan than to make the discov- 
eries they had hoped for. The faithful 
guide was rewarded with a gown and a 
hatchet, and many pledges of friendship 
were exchanged. Then upon one of the 
little islands at the foot of the falls 
they set up a cross with the inscription 
upon it. Jacobus Rex, 1607, and the name 
of Christopher Newport below. And pray- 
ing for the king and the success of the 
colony, they proclaimed the English king 
with a great shout. The few Indians who 



92 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

were present wondered greatly at this, 
but the captain told them that the cross 
with its two arms signified the league 
between himself and Powhatan and the 
shout was the reverence he paid to Pow- 
hatan. This deception cheered the Indians 
not a little, especially as the English had 
promised to help the king against his ene- 
mies. But such deceptions are never of 
any lasting good and already the Indians 
began to foresee the future greed of the 
English and to murmur at their planting 
or settling there; though their great chief 
had said to them: ^'Why should you be 
offended with them as long as they hurt 
you not, nor take anything away by force. 
They take but a little waste ground, which 
doth you nor any of us any good.'^ 

Going on down the river to Arsatecke, 
the English stayed there all the next day, 
feasting with the king and examining the 
Indian houses and the gardens planted 
with corn and tobacco. The king and his 
chiefs were eager to see on their part all 



THE TRIP UP THE JAMES. 93 

the wonders the white strangers brought 
to them, and Captain Newport caused one 
of his men to fire off a musket for the 
amusement of the Indians. At the strange 
noise the king started, stopped his ears, and 
expressed much fear, as did all the other 
savages. Some of them who were on board 
the shallop looking at this new kind of boat 
even jumped overboard at the explosion. 
They were all reassured when Captain 
Newport told them this thunder was used 
only against the enemies of the English and 
to help their friends. So with many signs of 
love, including the gift of a red waistcoat to 
the delighted king, the explorers departed. 
The next day they stopped at the village 
of the queen Agamatack, who received 
them with even more majesty than king 
Powhatan showed. She is described as a 
fat manly woman with much copper about 
her neck and a crown of copper on her 
head, and with long black hair which hung 
loose down her back. Her people seemed 
pleased with the visitors and treated them 



94 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

liberally. From thence they sailed to an- 
other place whose name Captain Smith 
does not remember but where he says the 
people showed the English their manner 
of diving for mussels in which they often 
found pearls. Near here they also met for 
the first time the king Opechancanough, 
who made great professions of friendship 
but whose hostility and treachery they were 
to suffer from later on. 

Passing the village of Weanocke where 
the voyagers had been well used on the way 
up the river, they noticed more signs of 
suspicion on the part of the natives, and 
their kind guide who had served them so 
faithfully all this time refused to go with 
them the rest of the way. This made the 
little company fear that some danger 
might threaten those at the fort, so they 
gave up revisiting the villages nearer the 
river's mouth and resolved to return to the 
settlement with all speed. Eeaching there 
they found their fears to be realized. In 
their absence the fort had been attacked by 




CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 
From the picture in his " History of Virginia.' 



THE TRIP UP THE JAMES. 95 

about four hundred Indians, and had it not 
been for the ships anchored near by which 
fired on the savages with their cannon and 
scattered them, the whole settlement might 
have been wiped out of existence as others 
had been before them. For all the men in 
the fort were taken quite unaware as they 
were busy in planting; their arms, many of 
them, being laid aside or in process of 
repair. As it was most of the council were 
hurt, one boy was killed outright, and the 
president. Master Wingfield (who showed 
himself a valiant gentleman), had one shot 
clean through his beard and yet escaped 
unhurt. 

The colonists immediately set about mak- 
ing the fort more of a real protection, 
Wingfield by this time seeing his error. As 
one of the colonists puts it: ''Hereupon 
the President was contented the Fort 
should be pallisadoed, the ordnance 
mounted, his men armed and exercised: 
for many were the assaults and ambus- 
cadoes of the salvages; and our men by 



96 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

their disorderly stragling were often hurt 
when the salvages by the nimbleness of 
their heels well escaped. ' ' For six or seven 
days as the chronicler says, there were 
alarms and skirmishes, more or less severe, 
with the treacherous enemy, and four or 
five English were caught outside the fort 
and badly wounded; the Indians' loss could 
not be learned, but the report was three 
slain and several hurt. They seemed to be 
tremendously afraid of the firing from the 
ships and looked on all guns with great 
awe. 

On June 16th the fort was finished. It 
was shaped like a triangle with bulwarks at 
the three corners and four or five pieces of 
artillery mounted in them. It was sur- 
rounded by a strong palisade and within 
this was room for houses and tents. Thus 
the colonists thought themselves sufficiently 
strong for the savages, and so they were if 
they stayed within the fort. But the In- 
dians were not the only foes they were to 
contend against. 



VII. 

Captain Newport's Departure and Dis- 
tress IN THE Colony. 

Captain Christopher Newport, whose 
wisdom and foresight were shown all 
through those first trying weeks, was now 
ready to sail back to England, taking his 
ships with him. He was not a member of 
the original colonizing expedition but had 
been engaged to conduct the little band of 
explorers across the western ocean. Before 
he went much dissatisfaction was expressed 
with Wingfield's administration of affairs 
and it was felt by some that the imprison- 
ment of Captain Smith was a mistake and 
a misfortune. All the accused man says in 
his first account about the trial, which now 
took place, is very brief: ^^ Captain New- 

97 



98 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

port having set things in order, set sail for 
England/' But in his later account and in 
that of another of the colonists we learn 
the facts. That ever since the departure 
from the Canaries Captain Smith was held 
prisoner because of the lying reports about 
him circulated by some of the leaders of 
the expedition. That they said he intend- 
ed to make himself king and to murder the 
council, and that there were accomplices of 
his in all three ships. That some of these 
men would be witnesses against him. 

These were very severe accusations, and 
no wonder that a man suspected of such 
treachery should be left out of the council. 
But on their trip up the James River Cap- 
tain Newport had seen his real devotion 
to the affairs of the colonists, his wisdom 
in dealing with the Indians and in making 
and carrying out energetic plans for dis- 
covery and settlement. So he decided to 
bring the whole thing up before a jury 
and put an end to such unfortunate sus- 
picions. Mr. Wingfield and others of the 



CAPTAIN NEWPORT'S DEPARTURE. 99 

council had determined to tell these stories 
about Smith to the company in England 
and ask that they censure him publicly, 
so giving him no chance to defend himself ; 
but Captain Newport insisted on giving 
Smith a fair chance and was helped in his 
plan of justice and reconciliation by the 
good minister, Mr. Hunt. 

When the trial came off those who, it was 
expected, would testify against Smith, 
spoke for him ; and his honesty was so com- 
pletely proved that he was immediately 
admitted to the council and later in the 
year President Wingfield was ordered to 
pay him about $1,000 because of the slan- 
ders he had spoken. This took about all 
the property Wingfield had in Virginia, 
but Captain Smith turned it all into the 
common store, so increasing the company's 
faith in him. Captain Newport in this way 
showed his true interest in the colonists by 
trying to stop all quarrels. He was wise 
enough to know they could not succeed un- 
less they stood by each other. *^The next 

I. or C, 



100 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

day," one of them says, "we confirmed a 
faithful love to each other and in our hearts 
subscribed an obedience to our superiors 
this day." Mr. Hunt preached to them 
about peace and friendship, and all together 
they received the communion. On the day 
following the Indians voluntarily asked for 
a treaty of peace ; and Captain Newport left 
Virginia for England on the 2nd of June, 
1607, leaving the colonists at peace with the 
Indians and what was even more important, 
in harmony with one another. This request 
for peace however came from King Ope- 
chancanough who lived very near the settle- 
ment, and sent his messengers with expres- 
sions of goodwill. He was a crafty chief 
and watched the strangers keenly, ready to 
pounce upon them in any time of weakness. 
And now comes the most trying time of 
all to the colonists, and the saddest part of 
my story. The peace so wisely established 
by Captain Newport and Mr. Hunt did not 
last very long and the English became dis- 
contented with Wingfield's management 



CAPTAIN NEWPORT'S DEPARTURE. 101 

and with the bad food given them. Before 
the ships left they had to some extent been 
able to use the sailors ' provisions, exchang- 
ing minerals found on explorations for 
ship 's biscuits. Now there was nothing left 
to eat but some mouldy meal with which to 
vary a diet of fish. Many soon fell sick, 
famine and plague set in, and Captain 
Smith says that the living were scarcely 
able to bury the dead, so weak and starving 
they were. Each man had half a pint of 
wheat and barley boiled in water a day, and 
they lived from May to September on stur- 
geon and sea-crabs. During that time about 
fifty died, among them Captain Gosnold. 
He died on the 22nd of August and was a 
great loss to the colony. As you remem- 
ber, he was one of the original members of 
the company, really the one who suggested 
the plan to Smith and to one or two others, 
and had been an important member of the 
council. *^He w^s honorably buried, hav- 
ing all the ordnance in the fort shot off 
with many vo>'lies of small shot.^' The 



102 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

Indians probably thought all this firing was 
some military practice, for if they had 
known how weak and helpless most of the 
English were they surely would have at- 
tacked them. Then, too, the colonists be- 
gan quarreling again, and a few days 
after the death of Gosnold Captain Ken- 
dall was deposed from the council, accused 
of starting a rebellion against the presi- 
dent, and was imprisoned on board the pin- 
nace. 

When things seemed most hopeless, some 
friendly Indians appeared at the fort with 
corn which though half ripe the starving 
colonists accepted gladly. Mr. Percy de- 
scribes this sad time in a despairing way : 
^^ There were never Englishmen left in a 
foreign country in such misery as we were 
in this newly disco veered Virginia. We 
watched every three nights lying on the 
bare cold ground, what weather soever 
came; . . . which brought our men to be 
most feeble wretches. Our food was but a 
small can of barley sod (cooked) in water, 



CAPTAIN NEWPORT'S DEPARTURE. 103 

to five men a day. Our drink, cold water 
taken out of the river ; which was at a flood, 
very salt, at a low tide, full of slime and 
filth : which was the destruction of many of 
our men. . . . Thus we lived for the space 
of five months in this miserable distress 
not having five able men to man our bul- 
warks upon any occasion. '^ 

The lack of proper leadership was shown 
by these facts. They had been living in 
rotten tents and even in trees when there 
should have been houses from the first. 
They had been starving for the right kind 
of food in the midst of a fertile country, 
full of game of all sorts. Then too, another 
reason for the hard times was that they had 
stayed at sea five months instead of two, as 
they expected to do, so using up most of 
their provisions and landing too late in the 
spring to take advantage of the best plant- 
ing time. One of them says very wisely, 
''Nothing is so difficult as to establish a 
commonwealth so far removed from men 
and means and where men^s minds are so 



104 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

untoward as neither to do well themselves 
or suffer others.'' 

At last so many of the company insisted 
on the unfitness of Mr. Wingfield to be 
president that he was deposed and Captain 
Eatcliffe elected in his place. Many rea- 
sons were given for this action against 
Wingfield. Captain Smith says he had so 
ordered things as to be generally hated in 
the colony. He and Gosnold, before the lat- 
ter 's death, had grown to dislike each other 
cordially. One man says Wingfield had 
planned to escape in the little boat to Eng- 
land, taking one or two of the abler men 
with him so deserting the colonists in their 
need. Several accuse him of keeping the 
best of the food during the starving time 
for his own use and refusing to divide with 
the others. Wingfield defended himself 
against all these charges in a letter he sent 
to England, but whether he was guilty or 
not he had not been able to govern the 
unruly adventurers as Captain Newport 
had been, or to make plans for comfort and 



CAPTAIN NEWPORT'S DEPARTURE. 105 

health and permanence of the settlement as 
Captain Smith did later. He saw this him- 
self and willingly gave up his office and 
became a sort of prisoner on the boat where 
Kendall had been sent. Kendall was set 
at liberty but recognized as a dangerous 
person and forbidden to carry arms. 

The Council did not choose wisely the 
second time. Captain Ratcliffe had shown 
himself to be faint-hearted on the voyage, 
and now proved that he could plan for the 
future no better than Wingfield. The sup- 
plies the Indians brought were soon ex- 
hausted and another time of famine would 
have set in had not the Indians again come 
to their rescue bringing great store of corn 
and bread. At the same time, it being early 
in September, many wild fowl came to the 
river and soon most of those weakened by 
lack of food were made well and strong 
again. But the leaders had not learned 
from hard experience and none of this 
abundant provision was stored away nor 



106 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

any preparation made for the hard times 
ahead. 

Captain Martin, President Eatcliffe's 
chief counsellor, being taken sick Smith 
was appointed a sort of head of outdoor 
affairs,— cape merchant, he calls himself. 
He was given power to plan for building 
and trading, and from that moment both 
those activities went briskly on. By his 
own example and cheerful encouragement 
he started the colonists to work, — to mow, 
to make thatch, to build and roof houses. 
Through all the time of trouble and sick- 
ness, though at one time very sick himself, 
he never lost heart and when at last this 
time came for him to take the lead, he really 
accomplished something and made the most 
of the poor material at hand. Tie says the 
men were constantly complaining and mut- 
tering and could with great difficulty be 
persuaded to do anything for their own 
relief. 

"What Smith was doing now ought to 
have been done at the very beginning of 



CAPTAIN NEWPORT'S DEPxiRTURE. 107 

the settlement; but the large majority of 
the expedition were explorers and fortune- 
hunters, instead of wise, persistent, ener- 
getic colonists, determined to make the best 
home possible there in the forest. They 
had not even selected a good place for their 
encampment as far as health went, for it 
was on the edge of swampy lands and this 
accounted partly for all the sickness. Then 
they had been unfortunate in their leaders. 
Captain Newport had been wonderfully 
successful with the Indians and in pacify- 
ing the quarrelsome adventurers, and in all 
the records so far we find not one word 
against him. But he was not one of the 
company and only with them occasionally. 
Then Captain Gosnold was much interested 
in the permanence of the colony and his 
death came at an unlucky time. He would 
probably have been a good leader and coun- 
cilor and is spoken of as a worthy and 
religious gentleman on whose life depended 
a good part of the success of the colony. 
All the others were quarrelsome and more 



108 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

or less useless in important matters, with 
the exception of the man who now comes 
into power and is the real founder of the 
colony. 

After Captain Smith was put in charge 
of these outside affairs and had started the 
building and planting, he took the little 
boat and sailed up and down among the 
Indian villages near by, trading for corn. 
Even Wingfield testified that in this way 
he relieved the company well. Although he 
did not know the language and lacked the 
proper number of sailors to manage the 
boat and also guns and necessary clothing 
for his men, still he was not discouraged 
and started cheerfully on his experiments. 
First he visited the small town of Kecough- 
' tan, now Hampton. ** where at first they 
scorned him as a half-starved man, yet he 
so dealt with them that the next day they 
loaded his boat with corn.'' This dealing 
consisted in meeting scorn with scorn and 
refusing to trade for the poor bits of 
food the savages first offered, asking the 



CAPTAIN NEWPORT'S DEPARTURE. 109 

English for their coats and hatchets in 
exchange! At the same time that he re- 
fused to trade Smith gave to the children 
and to some kindly natives the trifles they 
so admired— beads, little pocket-knives, &c. 
Then next day he came back to the shore 
and being met in a somewhat unfriendly 
manner by the Indians, fired a few shot 
at them and pulling the boat on shore fol- 
lowed the fleeing natives to the town. 
When they reached the houses the sav- 
ages had entirely disappeared and Smithes 
men were eager to seize the heaps of corn 
they saw on every side. But their leader 
knew better and ordered them to be ready 
for the attack which would soon come. 
Sure enough in a very few moments a 
cro^ d of savages appeared from the woods 
making a hideous noise. There were sixty 
or seventy of them painted in different 
colors, black, white and red. They came 
on in the form of a square, singing and 
dancing and carrying before them their 
idol or okee, which was made of skins 



110 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

stuffed with moss and all painted and hung 
with chains of shells and copper. They 
charged the English with clubs, bows, and 
arrows, but were, as Smith says, so kindly 
received with musket shot that several fell 
to the ground, the rest fled, and the idol 
was captured. 

This was a terrible blow to the super- 
stitious savages and very soon some of the 
principal Indians came back to treat for 
peace and beg that their okee be restored. 
Smith said that if six of them would come 
unarmed and load his boat, he would be 
their friend, give them back the idol and 
also beads, copper, and hatchets. They 
immediately agreed to this and brought 
him venison, wild-fowl, turkeys, and 
bread. Smith on his part faithfully per- 
formed his side of the bargain, and when 
they left the savages were singing and 
dancing in sign of friendship. 

On the way back they met two canoes full 
of Indians who came aboard the shallop 
eager to trade. As they had only their 



CAPTAIN NEWPORT'S DEPARTURE. Ill 

hunting provisions with them they urged 
the English to visit their village, Weras- 
koyack, and there Smith succeeded in ob- 
taining more corn. In this way he returned 
to Jamestown with thirty bushels ^^ which 
gave great comfort to our despairing com- 
pany. ' ' 

While Smith was away affairs at the 
settlement had gone from bad to worse. 
He found when he came back that the 
beads, knives, and hatchets, the objects he 
had so carefully kept for trading at the 
same time trying to impress the Indians 
with their value, had been carelessly given 
away. Then too, for the next few weeks, 
the English went on living from hand to 
mouth, making no plans and working only 
when forced to. For these reasons it 
seemed wise to Smith to plan for a longer 
trading trip in order to lay in supplies for 
the winter. So he asked that the pinnace 
be carefully repaired, and while this was 
being done he went oif again to see if he 
could find corn in some of the other small 



112 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

villages, there being provision for only 
fourteen days left in the storehouse. 

Starting out with six or seven men he 
found the natives either timid or churlish. 
In one place there were only women to be 
seen ; the braves were probably off on some 
hunting expedition. These women ran 
away into the woods, and though there was 
much corn about. Captain Smith felt that 
he had no commission to rob them, so came 
away empty-handed. In the next town the 
Indians traded very unwillingly and when- 
ever they could would try to steal from 
the English, even their coats and swords. 
Then, when they were repulsed, they 
would threaten an attack with their bows 
and arrows. So, constantly on the defen- 
sive and warding off such attacks, Captain 
Smith came back to the fort with only 
about ten bushels of corn. 

The English had always to be on guard 
against the savages' readiness to steal. 
Smith soon learned that the ^^ people 
steal anything that comes near them; yea, 



CAPTAIN NEWPORT'S DEPARTURE. 113 

are so practiced in this art, that looking in 
our face, they would with their feet between 
their toes, convey a chisel, knife, percer, 
or any indifferent light thing, which having 
once conveyed, they hold it an injury to 
take the same from them. They are nat- 
urally given to treachery.'' 

The small result of these two trips and 
the fact that whatever Captain Smith pro- 
vided the rest carelessly spent, made the 
longer journey he was planning for, quite 
necessary. How he succeeded and what 
he suffered we shall learn in the next 
chapter. 



VIII. 

DiSCOVEKIES ON THE ChICKAHOMINY^ AND 

Capture of Smith. 

On the 9th of November Captain Smith 
set out on his voyage of discovery up the 
Ghickahominy River, where it was reported 
he could find large stores of corn, and near 
whose banks the real Powhatan lived. 
For it seemed that the great chief on the 
James river who had entertained them and 
with whom they had made a treaty was 
only a son of the very great Powhatan. 

Smith took with him eight men in the 
barge, leaving the pinnace to follow with 
five sailors and two men who should help 
in caring for the great quantity of provi- 
sions he hoped to bring back. That same 
night they came to Paspahegh where they 

114 



DISCOVERY ON CHICKAHOMINY. 115 

had traded before and where they were 
again received with kind greetings. There, 
Smith says, he showed them what copper 
and hatchets he would give in exchange for 
corn and each family sought to satisfy him. 
As much as he wanted he could buy and at 
last with his usual sagacity he left them to 
go further up stream, lest these generous 
natives should see how much he really 
needed supplies and so demand more 
hatchets in exchange. 

At the next stopping place the English 
found a town of about forty houses and 
further on more towns, in all of which they 
were kindly used and could have loaded a 
ship with corn, so great was the abundance 
and so willing were the natives to trade. 
Then they returned to Paspahegh and 
thinking of the great need of corn at the 
fort. Smith hurried back, reaching there 
at midnight. Next morning he unloaded 
seven hogsheads into the storehouse. In 
the same way he made two more short trips 
to the little towns near the river's mouth 



116 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

where he always found the same desire on 
the part of the Indians to trade. He also 
found and shot much wildfowl, terrifying 
the Indians greatly with his gunfire. But 
each time he went back to the fort, thinking 
it wiser just then to supply their immediate 
needs than to undertake a longer journey. 

In these different returns to the fort 
Smith found affairs always in an upset 
state, and that conspiracies and ^^disgust- 
ful brawls'' had constantly occurred in his 
absence. The pinnace had not followed 
him as he ordered, but became the subject 
of several plots. First, President Bat- 
cliife and Captain Martin, who had recov- 
ered from his long illness, decided to go 
to England in it for supplies,— a crazy 
scheme which Smith finally made them 
give up. For if they were to get stores 
for the winter and find out much about 
the surrounding country they needed a 
sailboat above everything. Besides, they 
could not afford to lose any men. 

Then Wingfield and Kendall, both in dis- 



DISCOVERY ON CIIICKAHOMINY. 117 

grace, had plotted to steal the boat and 
escape in her and had even succeeded in 
winning over some of the sailors — so great 
was everybody's hatred of Katcliffe — when 
Smith again returned in the nick of time. 
He found that this plot was a far-reaching 
one. Captain Ratcliife had had a quarrel 
with the blacksmith— a most undignified 
fight— in which he, the president, struck 
the smith who attempted to strike back 
with one of his tools. For this rebellious 
act the man was sentenced to be hanged 
and on the scaffold confessed to a mutiny 
of which Captain Kendall was the head. 
This accusation brought Kendall to trial. 
He was found guilty and shot. All these 
things Smith calls disgustful hraivls, and 
certainly we must agree with him. 

But in spite of all their quarrels, some 
of the conditions were certainly improving. 
The men now, thanks to Smith's activity, 
had houses to live in ; there was plenty of 
corn in store and the river was full of 
swans, geese, ducks, and cranes ; while the 



118 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

men daily feasted on good bread, Virginia 
pease, and pumpkins, fish, fowl and dif- 
ferent kinds of wild beasts, ^^fat as we 
could eat them.'' This plenty put an end 
to most of the complaints and also to the 
plans to go back to England, and the coun- 
cil urged Captain Smith to go further in 
the voyages he had started, and discover 
the sources of the Chickahominy and per- 
haps a passage to the Western ocean. 

He started again therefore on the ex- 
plorations which he says he had neglected 
because of the immediate need for pro- 
visions at the fort, and found the first forty 
miles up the river easy sailing. The 
stream he reported to be about a quarter 
of a mile broad with at first many marshy 
places, then fertile corn-lands, many peo- 
l^le, and great abundance of game. At iho 
end of the forty miles there were numerous 
islands, then the river grew narrower, and 
ten miles further up he found a great tree 
growing amidstreams which he had to cut 
in two before he could get by. Soon the 



DISCOVERY ON CIIICKAHOMINY. 119 

stream grew so swift and narrow it became 
dangerous to take a large boat further, and 
talking it over with his men, Smith resolved 
to leave the barge at a town they had just 
passed and hire a canoe. He wished if 
possible to discover the source of the river 
and also to make it impossible for his 
enemies at the fort to say he did not dare 
to go on. It was a good deal of an adven- 
ture for the whole country from this point 
on seemed to be a vast wild desert with only 
this one little town for headquarters. 

Next day the canoe was hired, and taking 
with him two Indians to guide and paddle 
and two of his own men. Smith left the 
barge and the other seven men at the town 
and set forth into the wilderness. It seemed 
a great risk to take to trust himself entirely 
to these Indians, especially since the Eng- 
lish had come to know so well their treach- 
ery. But Captain Smith in his dealings with 
them had always kept his word and had 
always succeeded in finally making them 
do what he wished. The guides he chose 



120 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

were very friendly, and then he desired 
above everything else to make some dis- 
coveries which should interest people in 
England and make them think that the 
colony in Virginia was worth while sup- 
porting. He hoped to find a lake, the salt 
sea, or mountains with copper in them. 
Instead of these he found our favorite 
Indian princess, Pocahontas. And this is 
how he found her. 

For the next twenty miles the river kept 
its breadth and depth but was full of trees, 
so that a passage through them was made 
with great difficulty. At the end of this 
distance, the land still wild and deserted 
in appearance, they went ashore to rest. 
"While a meal was being prepared. Smith 
walked away from the river for some dis- 
tance to examine the nature of the country 
and to search for food, taking one Indian 
with him as guide. He ordered the two 
men he had left with the canoe to fire off a 
gun if an Indian was anywhere seen. 

After they had been walking in the for- 



DISCOVERY ON CHICKAHOMINY. 121 

est for some time, Smith suddenly heard 
behind him a loud cry and Indians shout- 
ing. Supposing that his two companions 
had been betrayed by the other guide and 
surprised by a band of Indians, he seized 
the Indian with him and fastened the 
man's wrist to his own with a garter, 
meaning to use him as a protection if at- 
tacked. But the guide seemed entirely ig- 
norant of any plot and advised Smith to 
escape. While they talked an arrow struck 
Smith on the right thigh but did no harm. 
Then he saw two savages at a little dis- 
tance drawing their bows, and shot and 
killed one of them before they could fire. 
Others soon appeared and many arrows 
were shot, but so greatly did the savages 
fear Smith's gun they did not dare come 
near enough to make their arrows effective 
and they all fell short. At the same time 
Smith protected himself with the guide 
who stood by him manfully and made no 
effort to get away. 
At last our hero found himself sur- 



122 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

rounded by about two hundred men led by 
that treacherous and cruel chief, Opechan- 
canough. They all drew their bows but did 
not fire, for they seemed eager to take 
Smith alive and begged him to put down 
his arms. The guide acted as interpreter 
in discussing conditions of peace. He said 
Smith was a great captain and wished to 
go back to his boat. The Indians on their 
side demanded his arms and said the other 
English were killed. Smith was all this 
time drawing away from the Indians and 
hoped to be able to escape— for he saw in 
how great terror they were of his gun, when 
suddenly he stepped into a bog pulling his 
guide after him, and there he stuck fast. 
There seemed nothing to do then but trust 
to the mercy of the Indians; so he threw 
down his arms and gave himself up to his 
captors who led him in triumph to their 
king. Smith presented this proud mon- 
arch with a pocket compass which so 
amazed and delighted him that he allowed 
his prisoner to tell him about the round- 



DISCOVERY ON CHICKAHOMINY. 123 

ness of the earth and the movements of 
the heavenly bodies. The Indians believed 
the earth to be round and flat, with them- 
selves in the middle and were much in- 
terested in this queer new idea. 

After this oration the savages tied him 
to a tree and tested his courage by pretend- 
ing to prepare to kill him ; but he stood the 
test stoically. Then using him kindly, they 
led him back to his canoe where one of his 
companions lay dead with about forty ar- 
rows in his body. All through the woods 
there were campfires, which proved to 
Smith that a party hunting deer had cap- 
tured him, and not braves on the war-path. 
That may have been one reason why they 
treated him with kindness. At the town 
only six miles distant, the women and chil- 
dren came out to meet them, for they had 
heard in some way of the capture of a fa- 
mous chief. It was a great feat among the 
Indians to take a chief prisoner and they 
believed Smith to be the great chief of the 
white men, as indeed he was. 



124 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

The town they came to seemed a sort of 
encampment, for the houses were made like 
arbors hung with mats and could be taken 
down easily when they wished to go further. 
The triumphal procession entered the vil- 
lage with great ceremony. First came 
King Opechancanough well guarded by 
twenty bowmen, after him two men with 
swords, then the prisoner between two bow- 
men, and then all the braves following in 
good order. When they reached the midst 
of the village there was a dance, — the In- 
dians had dances to celebrate all occasions, 
— and then each hunter went to his own 
house. 

In this dance, whether it was a regular 
hunting ceremony or one of triumph we 
do not know, the braves formed a circle 
and danced around shouting and singing, 
then yelling and screeching. Each man 
had his quiver of arrows and at his back 
a club, on his arm a fox or otter skin, 
and on his head the skin of a bird with 
wings outspread, and tied to this a piece of 



DISCOVERY ON CHICKAHOMINY. 125 

copper, a white shell, a long feather, or a 
snake's rattle. Their heads and shoulders 
were painted red, ** which scarlet color 
made an exceeding handsome show.'' All 
this while Smith and the king stood in the 
midst guarded as before; and after three 
dances they all departed. Smith they ^ ^ con- 
ducted to a long house where thirty or forty 
tall fellows did guard him; and ere long 
bread and venison was brought him that 
would have served twenty men." But he 
says he did not feel much like eating, every- 
thing was too strange and uncertain. 

Next morning came three women, bring- 
ing again more than he could possibly eat, 
so that he began to suspect that they were 
fattening him in order to eat him. But 
they gave him back his clothing and what- 
ever had been taken from him, and he tells 
us, did ^*what they could devise to content 
me, and still our longer acquaintance in- 
creased our better affection." 

A day or two later came the first threat. 

A savage came to Smith's lodging and 



126 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

tried to kill him but was prevented by the 
guards. It was reported to the king who 
said that this was the father of one of the 
hunters whom Smith had killed, and he 
wished to avenge his son's death. At the 
request of the captive they led him to the 
wigwam where the young man lay dying, 
and in answer to their prayers to him to 
save his victim's life. Smith said it was not 
possible there, but that he had at James- 
town a medicine which would accomplish 
the cure if they would allow him to go and 
fetch it. The Indians were too crafty 
themselves to be caught in any such way, 
but offered to send and get for him such 
things as he should need. At the same 
time they made great preparations to 
storm Jamestown, begging their prisoner 
for advice on the subject, and promising 
him life and liberty if he would betray his 
countrymen. They also wished to adopt 
him into the tribe and offered him many 
inducements to join them. He refused 
their offers courteously enough, and for 



DISCOVERY ON CHICKAHOMINY. 127 
advice told them that the English had 
many and great guns and engines that 
killed numbers of men at once. His vivid 
descriptions so terrified them that they 
gave up their plans for the time being, and 
in spite of the bitter winter weather, made 
ready to carry Smith's messages to the 
fort. 

He therefore wrote to those at the settle- 
ment the plans of the Indians and bade 
them be on their guard. At the same 
time he asked that certain things be sent 
him by the messengers. The Indians went 
accordingly to the fort, but in great fear ; 
and soon to their fear was added wonder 
when after delivering this bit of paper they 
found an answer just as Smith said they 
would. Neither they nor their chiefs at 
the village could decide whether Smith was 
a magician and could foretell the future, or 
whether he had made the paper talk. 
Moreover the English did as Smith ad- 
vised in the message, and made a show 
of their arms and ammunition, and the sav- 



128 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

ages came back to impress upon their tribe 
the supernatural powers of the white men. 
The day after the message was sent to 
Jamestown, the hunting party took down 
its village of mats and the prisoner was 
led about from town to town; and in each 
one he heard more rumors of the power of 
the great Powhatan whom he still believed 
to be at the Falls of the James. One of 
the towns where they stopped for a few 
days had been visited before by white men. 
A ship once entered the river on the banks 
of which the town stood, and the sailors 
were kindly entertained by the chief and 
his people. This kindness was not returned 
by the English, for they slew the king and 
robbed the town, then sailed away. The 
Indians of that town therefore, when they 
heard of Captain John Smith, thought he 
might be the very white man who had 
treated them so basely, and wished to see 
him in order to find out. Happily they 
were satisfied that he was not the same 
Captain, or this story might never have 



DISCOVERY ON CHICKAHOMINY. 129 

been written. About this time the mes- 
sengers came back and the savages, more 
convinced than ever that Smith had magical 
powers, began to ''entertain him with most 
strange and fearful conjurations." I am 
going to give an account of one curious 
ceremony exactly as Smith wrote it down 
in his History of Virginia. 

''Early in the morning a great fire was 
made in a long house, and a mat spread on 
the one side, as on the other; on the one 
they caused him to sit and all the guard 
went out of the house, and presently came 
skipping in a great grim fellow all painted 
over with coal mingled with oil ; and many 
snakes and weasels skins stuffed with moss, 
and all their tails tied together so that they 
met on the crown of his head in a tassel ; 
and round about the tassel was as a coronet 
of feathers, the skins hanging round about 
his head, back, and shoulders, and in a man- 
ner covered his face; with a hellish voice 
and a rattle in his hand. With most 
strange gestures, he began his invocation 



130 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

and environed the fire with a circle of meal, 
which done three more such like devils 
came rushing with the like . . . tricks, 
painted half black, half red; but all their 
eyes were painted white, and some red 
strokes along their cheeks ; round about him 
those fiends danced a pretty while, and 
then came in three more as ugly as the rest, 
with red eyes and white streaks over their 
faces ; at last they all sat down right against 
him ; three of them on the one hand of the 
chief priest, three on the other. Then all 
with their rattles began a song, which 
ended, the chief priest . . . began a short 
oration; at the conclusion they all gave a 
short groan, then laid down three grains 
more. After that, began the song again, 
and then another oration ever laying down 
so many corns as before till they had twice 
encircled the fire; that done, they took a 
bunch of little sticks prepared for that pur- 
pose, continuing still their devotion, and 
at the end of every song and oration, they 
laid down a stick between the divisions 



DISCOVERY ON CIIICKAHOMINY. 131 

of corn. Till night neither he nor they did 
eat or drink ; and then they feasted merrily 
with the best provisions they could make. 
Three days they used this ceremony; the 
meaning whereof they told him, was to 
know if he intended them well or no. The 
circle of meal signified their country, the 
circles of corn the bounds of the sea, and 
the sticks his country.'' 

After this an amusing thing happened: 
the savages brought a treasure to show to 
their prisoner. It was a bag of gunpowder 
which they had stolen at some time and 
they told him they were saving it till the 
spring in order to plant it as they did 
corn, and see what kind of seed it was. 
They also brought him a pistol and asked 
him to show them how to shoot at a mark, 
but Smith broke it as if by accident. He 
knew that just as soon as the Indians 
learned the use of fire-arms much of the 
power of the English over them would be 
lost. 

Two days later, about January 5th, 1608, 



132 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

they reached the town of Werowocomoco 
where lodged the great emperor and where 
Smith met with the most exciting adven- 
ture of his life. And of this and of Poca- 
hontas I shall tell you in the next chapter. 



IX. 

The Story of Pocahontas. 

When Smith and his captors reached 
this famous town they were received with 
much pomp and ceremony. They found 
the emperor sitting or rather lying in state 
upon a great bedstead-like structure about 
one foot high on ten or twelve mats. There 
were many chains of pearls around his 
neck and his robe was of raccoon skins. 
About him were grouped his chief coun- 
sellors and attendants, making quite an ar- 
ray, and all gazed at Smith as if he were 
some strange monster. 

Powhatan was an old man about seventy 
and had a grave and majestic countenance 
which filled Smith with admiration. He 
welcomed the famous prisoner with kindly 

133 



134 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

words, and assured him that he possessed 
the great chief's friendship and would in 
a few days regain his liberty. After a great 
platter of food had been offered Captain 
Smith and one of the women had brought 
water to wash his hands and a bunch of 
feathers instead of a towel to dry them, 
the king began to talk to him about many 
things. He seemed to be much impressed 
with what the captive had told the chief 
Opechancanough about his compass and 
wished to hear all that again. The only 
emotion which the Indians were not 
ashamed to show was curiosity ; and in the 
dealings of the English with them they 
were as curious as children about all the 
strange articles, useful or otherwise, which 
the strangers brought with them. 

Then Powhatan asked the question most 
important to them all— why did he come? 
What did this powerful white people from 
beyond the seas wish with the Indians' 
land! You remember that the Indians on 
the James River had murmured at the 



THE STORY OF POCAHONTAS. 135 

planting and that their chief had tried to 
quiet them. Now Powhatan expresses the 
suspicions of his followers as well as his 
own curiosity by this question. And here, 
Smith drew upon his imagination and told 
an ingenious tale. He said that they had 
had a fight on the sea with their enemy, the 
Spaniard, and had been overpowered. A 
storm had driven them to this shore of Vir- 
ginia and there the Indians had in one 
place shot at them, in another treated them 
with kindness; but finally when they had 
asked where they could get fresh water, 
they had been told to sail up the river for 
there it was all fresh. At Paspahegh they 
had been forced to leave the pinnace which 
had become leaky; they stopped there to 
mend her until Captain Newport, their 
father, should come to lead them away. 

But Powhatan was not satisfied ; why did 
Captain Smith come further up the river 
in a small boat? He answered that they 
had heard of another salt sea beyond, and 
wished to find it; also that a boy of Cap- 



136 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

tain Newport's had been killed and they 
wished to find the ones who had done this 
wrong and take vengeance. 

After some thought Powhatan began to 
describe to his prisoner all the country 
beyond them as far as he knew it. He said 
that above the falls the river was some- 
times brackish where it dashed among the 
rocks, especially after a storm. This may 
have made some travelers think that it was 
connected with some body of salt water; 
Smith himself continued to believe that 
they should find a passage to the western 
ocean if they journeyed a little farther. 
Then the emperor went on to say that at 
the head of the bay lived a cruel tribe who 
had killed the white man 's brother, and his 
death Powhatan himself would avenge. 
Near this tribe lived another, very warlike, 
who ate men. Many other tribes and re- 
gions he described, evidently very proud 
of the fact that they were all part of his 
domain, and also plainly unwilling that the 
white men should go any further. 



THE STORY OF POCAHONTAS. 137 

Smith in reply described to the wonder- 
ing chief all the territories which were sub- 
ject to the king of England, the noise of 
his trumpets, and the terrible manner of 
fighting under Captain Newport whom 
Smith called his father and the ^^king of 
all the waters/' He had evidently caught 
the poetic Indian fashion of nicknames. 
At this story of greatness, Powhatan 
*' admired and not a little feared, '^ and 
begged Smith to persuade the English to 
abandon Jamestown and come to live with 
him upon his river. He promised to give 
them corn, venison, and whatever they liked 
to eat. They in return should make him 
hatchets and copper and none should dis- 
turb them. And Smith promised to do 
what he could to bring this about. 

But in spite of all this friendly talk and 
the many professions of confidence, the 
Indian Braves were preparing quite a dif- 
ferent sort of entertainment. After a long 
consultation, two huge stones were set 
down in front of Powhatan. Then as 



138 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

many as could laid hands on the prisoner, 
dragged him to the stones, and laid his 
head upon them. They then stood ready 
with their clubs to beat out his brains— a 
rather common method of execution. But 
at that moment the king's daughter, Poca- 
hontas, being at this time about thirteen 
years old, rushed out from the women's 
quarters, and in spite of all attempts to 
stop her, took the captive's head in both 
her arms and laid her own down upon it. 
This effectually stopped the execution, for 
the savages standing near by would not 
touch her to take her away as she was the 
king's daughter, and the king experienced a 
change of heart. We are sure he was glad 
to give in to her entreaty for he must have 
been touched by the bravery as he was in- 
terested in the wisdom of the white cap- 
tain. He accordingly ordered the savages 
to put down their clubs, and he himself 
renewed his invitation to Captain Smith to 
come to their camp and make hatchets for 
him and bells and beads for his daughter. 



THE STORY OF POCAHONTAS. 139 

Nor did he mean to make a servant of his 
captive; for Smith says, ^^the king himself 
will make his own robes, shoes, bows, ar- 
rows, pots; plant, hunt, or do anything so 
well as the rest.'' 

This is the last we hear of Pocahontas 
for some time ; what went before and after 
this single incident of Captain Smith's cap- 
tivity we can only imagine. Like all truly 
brave men, John Smith was kind and 
chivalrous to women and children and j^rob- 
ably had won the young Indian girl's heart 
by his gentleness when talking to her and 
showing her his trinkets. For all the 
women were very curious about the strange 
prisoner and no doubt came often to peer 
at him in his lodging, Pocahontas among 
them. She is spoken of later as Pow- 
hatan's dearest daughter, so we are not 
surprised that her influence with her father 
prevailed to save Smith's life. 

It was an Indian custom— Cooper speaks 
of it in some of his novels— to adopt brave 
men into a tribe at the request of any mem- 



140 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

ber. Powhatan had twice shown his eager- 
ness to count Smith as one of his subjects, 
and now two days after the attempted 
execution, perhaps at the request of his 
daughter, went through a strange ceremony 
which meant more than a mere treaty of 
friendship. He caused Captain Smith to 
be taken to a house in the woods and there 
left alone on a mat by the fire. Not long 
after from behind another mat which 
divided the house into two parts, came the 
most doleful noise he had ever heard ; then 
Powhatan, disguised in a most fearful 
manner, more like a devil than a man— and 
with some two hundred more as black as 
himself, came out and told Smith that now 
they were friends and that when he should 
go to Jamestown he should send back two 
great guns and a grindstone. In exchange 
for these gifts the king would give him the 
country of Capahowosick and forever es- 
teem him as his son, Nantaquod. This new 
name was a proof that the adoption was 
complete. 



THE STORY OF POCAHONTAS. 141 

The next day he was freed from his cap- 
tivity and set out for Jamestown. In one 
place Smith tells us he had four guides to 
take him back to the fort, in another he 
says he had twelve. But few or many, they 
were so convinced of the deadly nature of 
the English arms that they could not be 
persuaded to approach the fort that day; 
and as the journey through the woods was 
only twelve miles long, they trifled away 
the rest of the afternoon, and insisted on 
spending the night in some old hunting 
lodges near the village of Paspahegh. 
There Smith expected every hour to be put 
to death, as he had expected it all through 
his imprisonment, but without doubt Pow- 
hatan's orders to the guides had been very 
strict— to deliver his adopted son in safety 
to his friends. 

Next morning before dawn they started 
again and in an hour were at the fort 
where Smith, who had been given up for 
lost, was welcomed with truest signs of 
joy. It seems that after he had left the 



142 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

barge with the seven men in it and had 
gone further up the river, the men had dis- 
obeyed his orders about going on shore and 
being watchful and had been surprised by 
some unfriendly Indians and one, George 
Cassen, had been killed. The others had 
without doubt escaped to the fort and told 
their tale, and few expected to see the gal- 
lant explorer again. 

There was one who did not join in the 
welcome and that was a Master Archer 
who had been a troublesome member of 
the colony from the beginning, conspiring 
now with this one now with that, and al- 
ways involved in some quarrel. When Cap- 
tain Newport left the settlement on his first 
return to England, he had asked President 
Wingfield if he feared any disturbance in 
the colony. Wingfield replied that one 
might come through Captain Archer, for 
he was troubled with an ambitious spirit 
and would make a disturbance if he could. 
When plans were made to take the pinnace 
to England he w^as one of the first to plot 



THE STORY OF POCAHONTAS. 143 

to go in her and desert the colony, and was 
loud in all his complaints. 

While Smith was away, President Rat- 
cliffe had made Archer one of the council, 
though he had promised the others he 
would not, and Archer hegan immediately 
to plot against Captain Smith's life. He 
succeeded in getting others to listen to the 
charges he brought against the brave cap- 
tain, silly though they were. So in the 
midst of the enthusiastic welcome he was 
receiving, Smith found that he was on trial 
for his life, accused of being the cause of 
the death of the two men he had left in the 
canoe when he went ashore at Werowoco- 
moco. 

In the mean time the Indian guides had 
been kindly received, and that Smith might 
not seem to break his promise to Powhatan, 
he otfered to one of them two small can- 
non and a millstone, all together weighing 
over 10,000 pounds. While the guides 
were wondering at the weight of these, 
Smith caused one cannon to be loaded with 



144 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

stones and discharged into the trees, which 
at that time were covered with ice and 
snow. At the shot both ice and branches 
came tumbling down and the great crash 
so terrified the poor savages that they ran 
away into the woods half dead with fear. 
This proved to them as Smith wished it 
to, that it would be impossible to carry 
such strange engines through the forest to 
Powhatan. At last, recovering from their 
terror, the Indians consented to come back 
for a conference when the English ^^gave 
them such toys and sent to Powhatan, his 
women and children, such presents as gave 
them in general full content, '' and were a 
much wiser gift than the one Powhatan had 
asked for. 

Then Captain Smith turned his attention 
to his enemies within the fort. He found 
that he was to be put to death the next day 
under what they called the Levitical Law, 
on a trumped-up charge that he was respon- 
sible for the lives of the men on the expe- 
dition with him. As I have said before the 



THE STORY OF POCAHONTAS. 145 

whole thing was devised by Archer in order 
to get rid of him. He also found that there 
had been another plan among some of them, 
probably Ratclitfe and Archer, to escape 
in the pinnace to England. Altogether 
'^they were all in combustion '' as the 
chronicle has it, when their hearts were 
cheered and all lives saved by the arrival 
of Captain Newport from England in his 
good ship, with men and supplies. This 
was called the arrival of the First Supply 
in Virginia, and makes a second chapter 
in the history of the colony. 

Newport we can well imagine found 
plenty to do and went to work without 
delay. First he released Wingfield from 
the boat where he had been all this time 
a prisoner and saved his life, Wingfield is 
sure, by allowing him to live in the town. 
Then he deposed Archer from the council 
and put on Master Scrivener, ^'a very wise, 
understanding gentleman,'' who had come 
with him from England and was to be a 
valuable member of the colony. Then hav- 



146 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

ing landed and refreshed his men, he 
employed some of them in building a good 
storehouse of the right size, others in set- 
ting up a stove, and most of the sailors in 
building a church ; up to this time they had 
had only a pulpit made of boards nailed to 
a tree. All of these works they finished 
cheerfully and in short time. 

It is interesting to see how much influ- 
ence this sturdy sailor had over the quar- 
relsome colonists. He was not one of their 
number, so there was no reason why they 
should be jealous of him; he was a good 
sea-captain and knew how to make men 
obey him, and he seemed in every way to 
be just the sort of umpire they needed. He 
succeeded where Smith failed in dealing 
with unruly Englishmen, but he was never 
so wise as Smith in dealing with the crafty 
savage. 

Then came a very real blow to the settle- 
ment. About the 17th of January, it was 
almost entirely burned down with all the 
men's clothing, arms, and provisions. The 



THE STORY OF POCAHONTAS. 147 

houses were built partly of reeds and 
burned fiercely, and even part of the pali- 
sade was destroyed. This happened in a 
time of extreme frost and many perished 
for want of a sufficient lodging. One of the 
saddest things was the loss of good Master 
Hunt's library and he was left with only 
the clothes on his back ; yet the record says 
none ever heard him repine at his loss. 
Again Captain Newport came to their 
rescue and saved them from starving with 
the provisions he brought with him. He 
also set the men, both sailors and colonists, 
to work rebuilding. He knew that to keep 
busy was the best cure for discouragement. 



X. 

A Second Visit to Powhatan. 

All this time Powhatan had been sending 
presents to his adopted son, sometimes as 
often as every two 'days. With the mes- 
sengers came Pocahontas bringing deer, 
turkeys, squirrels, fish, bread and raccoon 
skins, half for Captain Smith and half for 
his father. Captain Newport, whom the 
Indians much desired to see. At the same 
time they brought urgent requests that 
Smith would come to fetch the corn that 
belonged to him and take possession of the 
country Powhatan had presented to him. 
The impression of wisdom which Captain 
Smith had made on the savages by his dis- 
course on the roundness of the earth and 
the movements of the heavenly bodies 

148 




POCAHONTAS. 
After a contemporary print. 



A SECOND VISIT TO POWHATAN. 149 

seemed to be undiminished, and now Cap- 
tain Newport's arrival so soon after Smith 
had said he would come made the super- 
stitious savages believe him to be an ora- 
cle. And they followed his word in every- 
thing, allowing him to fix the price of what- 
ever they brought to trade. 

But again the jealousy of the others did 
harm. The president and the council so 
envied Smith his reputation among the 
savages— though they all shared the good 
which came from it— that they tried to 
assure the Indians, by giving them about 
four times in trade what Smith had allowed, 
that they were as much more powerful than 
he as they were more generous. Then the 
council had been so overjoyed at the arrival 
of the ship that they had given the sailors 
liberty to trade how and when they pleased. 
And these newcomers were so eager for 
some of the things the Indians brought that 
they did not keep at all to the rate Captain 
Smith had set. It naturally came about 
therefore that one pound of copper would 



150 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

hardly buy what one ounce had been 
enough for before, and trade was greatly 
injured. 

On the other hand this generous trading 
and the presents sent to Powhatan made 
the old chief believe more than ever in the 
greatness of Captain Newport, of which 
Smith had said so much. Soon the invita- 
tions to the white father to come and visit 
him became so urgent and so much fuss 
was made about it, that early in February 
he, Captain Smith, and the new councilor. 
Master Scrivener, set out to find the head- 
quarters of the tribe. When Captain Smith 
had come back from Powhatan's village 
after his captivity he had been led through 
the woods— a much shorter distance. Now 
they wished to go all the way by water and 
find out the nature of the river on the banks 
of which Werowocomoco lay. 

This river was called the Pamunkey and 
flowed into the bay not far above the mouth 
of the James. The explorers found to 
their great joy that the water of the river 



A SECOND VISIT TO POWHATAN. 151 

was salt all the way to the village, which 
was as far from its mouth as Jamestown 
was from the mouth of the James River. 
This made Captain Newport think that 
now at last they had found the entrance to 
the other ocean. 

When they reached the place, Captain 
Smith, always on his guard, determined to 
land first with about twenty men and find 
out what temper Powhatan was in and if 
he had any treacherous motive in wishing 
to see Captain Newport. Marching to the 
town which lay a mile and a half from the 
river, they had to cross some marshes and 
little creeks, and in many places the bridges 
looked so frail that Smith again suspected 
some trap. He therefore mingled his men 
with the chiefs who had been sent to meet 
him so if anything happened to the bridge 
it should have upon it both Indians and 
white men. Some of the Indians seeing his 
suspicion came up in their canoes and took 
Smith and a few others to the bank with 
them. There Smith formed his few 



152 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

men into a guard until the others should 
come safely across, and so never for one 
moment relaxed his vigilance. He believed 
that most of the Indian bravery began 
when they saw weakness in their opponents. 

Then, two by two, the white men marched 
to Powhatan's house and Smith, entering 
alone, was received with loud signs of joy. 
He found Powhatan, **this proud salvage,'* 
on a throne probably made of mats, and 
showing such majesty as Smith declares he 
has not often seen in either a Pagan or a 
Christian. And when we remember Smith's 
numberless opportunities of seeing royalty 
in all the countries he had visited before 
coming to Virginia it gives us some idea 
of the stateliness of this Indian chief. 

With a kind countenance Powhatan bade 
him welcome, and made a place for the 
white man to sit beside him. Then Smith 
gave him the presents they had brought, a 
suit of red cloth, a white greyhound, and a 
hat, which were received with a long speech 
of thanks and the public confirmation of a 



A SECOND VISIT TO POWHATAN. 153 

lasting league of friendship. After a feast 
a remarkable conversation took place, for 
Smith had learned by now enough of the 
Indian dialect to talk to his host, and be- 
sides signs were a great part of the Indian 
language. 

Powhatan began by saying, ^'Your kind 
visitation doth much content me, but where 
is your father whom I much desire to see 
(meaning Newport), is he not with you?'' 
Smith told him that Captain Newport 
had stayed on board the boat but would 
come to visit the chief the next day. 

Then with signs of amusement Powhatan 
asked his guest where were the fire-arms 
and the grindstone which he had promised 
to send him when he went back to James- 
town. 

Smith answered that according to his 
promise he had offered two cannon to the 
guide who had refused to take them. At 
this the old king laughed aloud and asked 
that he might have some which weighed 
less ; he had evidently heard the story from 



154 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

his guides and thought no less of Smith 
for his successful scheming. 

Then Powhatan asked to see the men who 
had come with him and Smith ordered them 
to come in, two by two, and stand on guard. 
At the same time he asked Powhatan for 
the land which had been promised to him. 
The king said he should have it but that he 
expected all these men to lay down their 
arms at his feet as did his subjects. 

Smith answered that this was a ceremony 
their enemies desired but never their 
friends, that next day his father Newport 
would give a son of his own to the great 
chief in sign of affection, and that they 
would subdue Powhatan ^s enemies in the 
land at the head of the bay, the country of 
the Monacans, whenever he wished and 
deliver the land to him. At this the old 
king seemed much delighted and proclaimed 
Smith a werowance or subordinate chief of 
Powhatan, with the same privileges in the 
land as the Indians themselves. 

Thus with many signs of thanks, Captain 



A SECOND VISIT TO POWHATAN. 155 

Smith took his leave expecting to spend the 
night on the boat with Newport and the 
others. But on reaching the river he found 
that contrary to his advice the boat had 
been allowed to drift down with the tide 
and could not be found ; and as a storm was 
gathering the king ordered that the new 
chief should be conducted to a house nearby 
and carefully guarded, sending him at the 
same time a quarter of venison to stay his 
stomach. During the evening there was 
another long conversation with Powhatan 
and all this time, when because of the ab- 
sence of the boat there was ample oppor- 
tunity for treachery on the part of the 
Indians, Smith was never oif his guard and 
never went alone or unarmed to any point. 
This is a good example of Captain New- 
port's stupidity among the Indians, and 
from now on he seems to understand less 
and less how to deal with them. 

Next morning, the king conducted his 
guest to the river and showed him with 
pride all his canoes, describing how he sent 



156 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

them over the bay for tribute, and how 
many countries paid him tribute in beads, 
copper, and skins. While they were talking 
there Captain Newport and Master Scrive- 
ner came ashore from the boat, which had 
come back with the tide, leading with them 
young Thomas Savage, a boy of thirteen, 
who was to live with the Indians for some 
time and become very useful as a messen- 
ger and interpreter. They marched with 
much ceremony to the king and he received 
them with the same kindliness he had 
shown Smith. When the boy was presented 
to him to be his son he was especially de- 
lighted, and gave them each one in return 
a huge basket of beans; Smith explains 
that, ^^ Victuals you must know is all their 
wealth and the greatest kindness they could 
show us.'' Then they spent all day in 
feasting and speeches,— the Indians' great- 
est delight, — and the trading was put off 
till next day. 

After a night on the boat all came ashore 
again fully armed and bringing the trin- 



A SECOND VISIT TO POWHATAN. 157 

kets — hatchets, copper, beads, etc., for bar- 
ter. Again Powhatan asked why they came 
armed like enemies, and though Captain 
Smith satisfied him by sajdng it was the 
custom. Captain Newport to content the 
chief sent thirty of the men back to the 
river. This was so entirely contrary to 
Smith's way of dealing with this crafty 
people that he refused to be cut off from 
these men and from the boat ; either he or 
Scrivener stayed always near it and all 
Powhatan's contrivings could not make 
him give up this plan. 

In the same way he and Newport 
differed about the trading. Powhatan in 
a little speech pretended to scorn trade. 
He said, '^ Captain Newport it is not agree- 
able with my greatness in this peddling 
manner to trade for trifles; and I esteem 
you a great werowance. Therefore lay me 
down all your commodities together, what 
I like I will take; and in recompense give 
you what I think fitting their value. " Now 
this was an old trick which Smith had 



158 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

learned some time ago and he replied 
scornfully that he would rather know how 
much Powhatan would give for one hatchet, 
and told Captain Newport he only wanted 
to cheat them. But Captain Newport was 
much impressed with the evident generosity 
of the great chief and displayed twelve cop- 
pers to see what he would receive ; whereat 
Powhatan gave them only as much corn as 
Smith had obtained on the Chickahominy 
for the price of one copper. This natu- 
rally made Smith very indignant ; and wish- 
ing to bring about a better state of things 
for the English, he carelessly displayed 
some trifles, among them some blue beads 
which he seemed to regard with such pride 
that the king immediately wanted them 
more than anything he had yet seen. But 
Smith told him that they were made of a 
most rare substance of the color of the 
skies and that only the greatest kings wore 
them. This of course made Powhatan 
desire them all the more, until finally Smith 
succeeded in buying with a pound or two 



A SECOND VISIT TO POWHATAN. 159 

of them about three hundred bushels of 
corn. Yet, the record says, they parted 
good friends. 

Several times during their stay Powhatan 
tried to outwit the English and to get them 
to give up their arms, but Smith was always 
ready and more than a match for him, and 
only Captain Newport was blundering and 
credulous. In the conversation about the 
expedition of the English against the 
Monacans in their country above the falls, 
Powhatan said he would add a hundred In- 
dians to the white men's company; then 
when they had reached the falls the Eng- 
lish could build boats to go further. This 
plan impressed Newport greatly as he be- 
lieved that once above the falls they could 
find a route to the other ocean; he acted 
on this belief later and very foolishly, as 
we shall see. But Smith had no confidence 
in Powhatan or in the presence of the 
ocean, and said as much. 

Yet in spite of his well-grounded sus- 
picions the Indians once or twice showed 



160 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

their real affection for the white captain 
in quite surprising ways. For instance, 
once when he and Scrivener were caught in 
the mud in a canoe they had taken to get 
out to their boat and stuck there, the In- 
dians plunged into the water and carried 
them ashore, showing them every atten- 
tion; so that Smith said ^^this kindness I 
found when I little expected less than a 
mischief.'' 

Wliile they were trading and feasting 
with Powhatan, their neighbor. King Ope- 
chancanough, sent many messengers, one 
after another, urging that the white chiefs 
come to visit him. Powhatan was reluctant 
to have them leave and Smith suspected 
plots, so they repeatedly refused, saying 
that Opechancanough must come to them 
at Powhatan's Town. Finally the persist- 
ent chief sent his daughter who said that 
her father had hurt his leg and could not 
come, and so the English were at last per- 
suaded to make the short journey. Smith 
says that the wily savage came to meet him 



A SECOND VISIT TO POWHATAN. 161 

with a natural, kind affection and seemed 
to rejoice to see him. There also the rare 
blue beads were very valuable and more 
corn and venison was obtained, while fine 
bread and game enough for thirty were 
given the three leaders, for Scrivener was 
with them. They then returned to Wero- 
wocomoco to take leave of Powhatan. The 
king as a return for the boy, Thomas, pre- 
sented Captain Newport with a trusty 
Indian to be his servant and go with him to 
England; Smith is sure this was that he 
might learn the strength and condition of 
the White Man's country. It is interesting 
to think that old Powhatan planned some 
day to send an expedition to conquer 
the lands across the ocean. 

On the 9th of March the little band re- 
turned to the fort with 250 bushels of corn, 
and a welcome sight it was to the improvi- 
dent colonists. They found the president 
disabled, having shot and fearfully mangled 
his hand. They also found that the sailors 
were fast eating up the provisions they had 



162 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

brought over on purpose for the colonists, 
and were selling what was left to them at 
much more than the food's real value. But 
worst of all some one had discovered what 
he thought to be a gold mine and all the 
talk was of gold. ^^ There was no talk, no 
hope, nor work but dig gold, wash gold, 
refine gold, load gold.'' Captain Newport 
lost his head with the rest of them, and 
kept the ship there when she should have 
been on her way back to England while he 
started a refinery and worked over this 
gold which was no gold at all. Captain 
Smith remonstrated with him and told 
Captain Martin, who could think of nothing 
else, that unless he could show him a better 
proof than any they had he. Smith, cared 
not at all for their ^^ dirty skill." At last to 
the great content of Smith and one or two 
of the more able of the colonists the ship 
took leave, and with her sailed Master 
Wingfield and Captain Archer ^Ho seek 
some place of better employment." We 
are sure Captain Smith breathed a sigh of 



A SECOND VISIT TO POWHATAN. 163 

relief when he saw them go, and there is no 
doubt this wise and far-sighted leader knew 
that if Ratcliffe and Martin could have 
gone too, the colony would have been 
spared much trouble and suffering. 



XI. 

Troubles with the Indians. 

Captain Smith with the good help of 
Master Scrivener now set to work to repair 
the settlement. Little had been done since 
the disastrous fire of the January before, 
for men's minds had been too much taken 
up with all the gold they hoped to carry 
back with them to England to think of 
such prosaic things as housebuilding. The 
chronicle tells us that these two energetic 
men divided between them ^*the repairing 
our pallisadoes, the cutting down trees, 
preparing our fields, planting our corn and 
to rebuild our church and recover our store- 
house.'' 

164 



TROUBLES WITH THE INDIANS. 165 

The Indians had become very trouble- 
some again because of their thieving habits, 
and no one seemed to have had the energy 
to put a stop to the constant raids, but ^*he 
that stole today durst come again the next 
day.'' Captain Smith took this in hand 
also and resolved that when an Indian stole 
he should not dare come anywhere near the 
fort the next day. So when he found out 
that one particular savage had the day 
before stolen two swords he obtained per- 
mission from the council to punish him; 
and when he shortly appeared again with 
three companions, evidently intending to 
carry off the first thing they could get pos- 
session of, Smith bade them be off. The 
thief answered by threatening Smith with 
his club whereupon he received a sounding 
blow, and before the others could revenge 
their leader they were met with such 
spirited resistance that all turned and fled. 
Captain Smith, the better to impress them 
with this lesson, chased them some distance 
from the settlement, ordering his men to 



166 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

fire several shots after them ; and they were 
a thoroughly scared band of robbers. 

This determined opposition to their thiev- 
ery was a great surprise to the Indians. 
Those friendly natives who were helping 
the English in their repairs redoubled their 
energies, while the would-be thieves came 
back in a few days trembling and begging 
to be friends. The news even travelled as 
far as the last town the English had visited, 
thirty miles away, and the king of the place 
sent back a hatchet which had been stolen 
while they were with him. As was his cus- 
tom Smith rewarded the messenger and 
sent him away well content. 

The 20th of April, while they were plant- 
ing their corn, an alarm was given and all 
seized their arms, supposing it to be an- 
other attack by Indians. To their great joy 
a ship had been seen, and great was their 
surprise to welcome Captain Nelson and 
his good ship Phoenix. He had started out 
from London with Captain Newport, but 
had been beaten back by storms and obliged 



TROUBLES WITH THE INDIANS. 167 

to seek shelter in the West Indies. All had 
supposed him lost, but good captain and 
wise manager that he was, he stayed in 
the Islands until his ship was well repaired, 
and while there persuaded the savages 
to bring him provisions enough for all on 
board, so that when his ship finally reached 
Virginia his sailors had not touched the 
supplies sent over for the settlement. The 
enthusiasm with which he was welcomed 
and the admiration for his management — 
so different from that of the boat which 
had just left them— was well expressed by 
one of the settlers : *^He had not anything, 
but he freely imparted it; which honest 
dealing (being a mariner) caused us to 
admire him; we would not have wished 
more than he did for us." The colonists 
who arrived with Captain Nelson were a 
great help, for they brought new life and 
enthusiasm and took the places of those 
who were sick or discouraged. 

In order to send back the Phoenix with 
valuable reports and freight the president 



168 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

appointed Captain Smith and Scrivener to 
lead an exploring expedition of seventy 
men above the falls into the country of the 
Monacans where Powhatan was so unwill- 
ing that they should go. Captain Smith 
did not think this a very wise plan, yet he 
was ready to obey the majority of the 
council and spent six or seven days in 
training his men,— for there was every 
chance of meeting hostile Indians. At the 
end of the week they could march, fight, 
and skirmish in the woods and were not 
afraid to encounter the whole of Pow- 
hatan's force. 

But now that they were almost ready 
to start came disputes. Captain Nel- 
son thought the company should pay the 
hire of his soldiers if they were to be used 
in exploring, Captain Martin wished to use 
the fool 's gold as freight for his ship, and 
the old jealousy of Smith revived and the 
fear that the fame of all discoveries should 
belong to him; yet neither Ratcliffe nor 
Martin dared to go. Captain Smith had all 



TROUBLES WITH THE INDIANS. 169 

along thought it the wisest plan to load the 
ship with cedar as of certain value rather 
than with dirt, as he called the supposed 
gold, or the report of this uncertain dis- 
covery. 

While they were discussing these ques- 
tions and wasting time in wrangling the 
Indians began to get troublesome once 
more. They were like naughty children 
and did not remember the last punishment. 
When Captain Newport had taken leave of 
Powhatan the chief presented him with 
twenty turkeys asking in return twenty 
swords which Newport very foolishly sent 
him. He then gave Captain Smith a sim- 
ilar present asking the same gift in return, 
but Captain Smith was too wise to furnish 
the Indians with arms and put him off with 
one pretext or another. The desire of the 
Indians to get these weapons by fair means 
or foul started the thieving again. 

The orders from England had been strict 
not to offend the natives, for they were too 
valuable as traders and guides to be made 



170 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

enemies of, but Smith knew that nothing 
but well-directed force would stop the open 
and impudent robbery of hatchets, swords 
and utensils of different kinds. So at his 
first opportunity he took some of the 
thieves prisoners. This chance came sev- 
eral times, for there were many savages 
skulking around the fort, and some of them 
behaved in a hostile way even toward Cap- 
tain Smith. The council at last saw that 
this was a time for action and ordered 
about ten of the thieves to be shut up in the 
fort and securely bound. The Indians 
finally understanding that the English 
were determined to be rid once for all of 
such annoyances, sent messengers to treat 
for the release of these captives. 

But their repentance was not genuine; 
for when Captain Smith told them they 
should bring back what spades, shovels, 
swords, or tools they had stolen or else the 
prisoners should hang, they were very 
angry and planned revenge. Next day two 
Englishmen hunting near the fort were 



TROUBLES WITH THE INDIANS. 171 

seized by the savages and threatened with 
hanging. This put an end to what little 
patience Smith had left and he persuaded 
the council to take severe measures. So 
that night the barge was manned and going 
to the nearest village Captain Smith and 
his men set fire to some huts and destroyed 
what they could. 

That was language the Indians could 
understand and next morning they brought 
back the two Englishmen they had cap- 
tured. In return one Indian prisoner was 
released, but the rest were taken bound to 
morning and evening services each day 
where they saw all the white men together 
and armed. Up to this time they had been 
inclined to scoff and s'ay theiir captors 
would not injure them, but at the sight of 
this goodly array of men armed with the 
guns they so dreaded, their jests turned 
to trembling. Then Smith tried threats of 
torture until finally one terrified savage 
confessed to a great plot among all the 
chiefs Smith and Newport had visited, even 



172 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

old Powhatan himself. This was to obtain 
possession of all the weapons they could, 
and then when Captain Newport had re- 
turned with the Indian who had gone to 
England with him, to surprise the English, 
after inviting them to a great feast, and 
cut all their throats. 

This seemed the more probable, for Pow- 
hatan had been acting in a suspicious man- 
ner lately and a few days before had sent 
the boy, Thomas Savage, to the fort with 
presents for Smith and the message that 
he, Powhatan, had heard shooting and 
feared his country was to be invaded. **We 
sent him word," says Smith, *^we intended 
no such thing, but only to seek stones to 
make hatchets, except his men shot at us; 
... if they did shoot but one arrow we 
would destroy them." The boy was sent 
back with this message, asking also that one 
of Powhatan's subjects might be sent to 
the fort as a guide. In answer to this an 
Indian called Weanock came to the settle- 
ment and back with him came Thomas 



TROUBLES WITH THE INDIANS. 173 

again, for he had become suspicious of the 
Indians* plots and they feared to have him 
spying on them. 

Finally to make sure that this talk of a 
plot was true, Captain Smith examined 
several of the prisoners separately and 
found that there was undoubtedly such a 
conspiracy. He ordered the soldiers to fire 
several volleys of shot during his question- 
ing of the separate captives ; each one, well 
frightened, thought his companions were 
being put to death and his own fate would 
soon follow, so he told what he knew with 
the greater eagerness. 

Some days later Powhatan sent to the 
fort the one person he had good reason to 
suppose would be able to influence Captain 
Smith, his dearest daughter, Pocahontas, 
*^the only nonpareil of Virginia," who 
Smith says, was superior to all in the land 
not only in beauty of face and figure, but 
in wit and spirit. The child had been care- 
fully instructed by her father not to beg for 
the release of the prisoners but to feign the 



174 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

same indifference that an Indian cliief 
would show, and to give to the white 
chief some presents, assure him of Pow- 
hatan's good will, and beg that the boy 
Thomas be sent back for ^^they loved 
him exceedingly. ' ^ At the same time Ope- 
chancanough sent asking that two of the 
prisoners who were his friends might be 
released, and many friends and relatives of 
other captives appeared begging for their 
freedom. The Indians had learned their 
lesson that unfriendly behavior only put 
the English on their guard and made them 
angry, and they now returned to their old 
friendly and trustful behavior which 
brought in return friendly treatment from 
the English. 

But all the pleaders and messengers 
except Pocahontas, were sent off unsatisfied 
and in the afternoon the prisoners were led 
as usual to the church and after prayers 
were delivered to her as a sign that her 
intercession had obtained their release. 
They were well-fed, as they had been all 



TROUBLES WITH THE INDIANS. 175 

through their imprisonment, their bows 
and arrows returned to them, many trifles 
such as she liked were given Pocahontas, 
and all departed well content and with a 
still stronger friendship, we may well 
believe, between Captain Smith and the In- 
dian princess. 

Only one more attempt at perfidy was 
made at that time by the Indians. A sav- 
age from Paspahegh came bringing a glit- 
tering stone, which he said he found in a 
mine nearby and that he would lead Cap- 
tain Smith to the place. Smith with one or 
two others started out, but the Captain's 
watchfulness detected something suspi- 
cious in the Indian's manner and story, and 
at last he refused to go farther. Instead he 
showed the guide, who was now evidently 
plotting to betray them, the copper he 
would have had as a reward if he had done 
as he promised. Giving him, instead, twen- 
ty lashes with a rope he gave him back his 
bows and arrows, which had been taken 
away from him ; then bidding him shoot if 



176 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

he dared, he let him go. Compared with 
the warfare of the times this was humane 
treatment on the part of Captain Smith, 
and tlie charges made against him later of 
cruelty towards the natives are all the time 
being disproved. 

It was now the 2nd of June and the men 
were all in good health, so it was thought 
well to load the Phcenix with cedar, a valu- 
able cargo, and send her back to England. 
Captain Martin, who had been sick and of 
little use to the colony ever since his com- 
ing, and was no doubt tired of the hard- 
ships it was necessary to endure, wished to 
carry the news of his supposed gold mine 
back to London, and was most willingly 
allowed to return. 

The most valuable article in the ship's 
cargo was Captain Smith 's tirst book which 
he gave Captain Nelson to deliver to the 
Virginia Company in London. This had 
a very long and imposing title, but is usual- 
ly called ''The True Kelation,'' or ''News 
from Virginia. '^ Without it we should 



TROUBLES WITH THE INDIANS. 177 

not have known many of these facts which 
are of such real interest now as we learn 
about the beginnings of our beloved coun- 
try. In the closing paragraph the brave 
and energetic writer sums up the state of 
things in the colony when the Phoenix 
sailed, and I want to quote his words as 
he wrote them. 

^^Wee now remaining being in good 
health, all our men wel contented, free from 
mutinies, in love with one another, and as 
we hope in a continual peace with the In- 
dians; where we doubt not but by God's 
gracious assistance, and the adventurers 
willing minds, and speedie furtherance to 
so honourable an action, in after times to 
see our Nation to enjoy a Country, not 
onely exceeding pleasant for habitation, 
but also very profitable for comerce in 
generall; no doubt pleasing to almighty 
God, honorable to our gracious Soveraigne, 
and commodious generally to the whole 
Kingdome. ' ' 

And if all this was true at the beginning 



178 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

of that second summer in the year 1608, 
certainly Captain John Smith was the man 
who had done most to make it so. 



XII. 

The Discovery of Chesapeake Bay. 

When the Phoenix sailed from James- 
town, Captain Smith and fourteen men, one 
of whom was a physician, Dr. Eussell, went 
with it as far as the mouth of the James 
River. Then in their open barge of three 
tons' burden, the little company started to 
explore the great bay they had seen only 
the mouth of. The fort was left under the 
rule of Ratcliffe who was masterful and 
selfish in his methods and used more of the 
provisions for himself than he had any 
right to. 

This trip was very much like the others 
that Smith had taken for discovery or to 
obtain provisions. Almost immediately 
after they parted from the Phoenix the ex- 
plorers, found themselves sailing among 

179 



180 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

some little islands whicli they named Smith 
Isles, and as such they are known to this 
day. Passing Cape Charles they saw two 
savages, ^'grim and stout," holding long 
spear-like poles with bone points. These 
demanded who the travellers were and what 
they wished, and finally became very 
friendly and invited them to visit their 
village, Accomack. 

The company of white men consented to 
land and were well received and kindly 
treated, and found the chief of this tribe to 
be "the comeliest proper civil savage '^ they 
had yet encountered. They found here, we 
are told, good harbors for small boats but 
not for ships. For in all these excursions 
about Virginia we find John Smith de- 
scribing the country with the same care 
and exactness with which he wrote of the 
strange lands of the Turks. Now his 
purpose is to show the company of mer- 
chants in London how valuable a colony 
this new land might be made. 

From Accomack they sailed along the 



DISCOVERY OF CHESAPEAKE BAY. 181 

coast, noting every bay and headland and 
all the islands scattered abont to see which 
ones were fit for harbors and habitations. 
At one time a storm drove them to the land, 
and in a search for fresh water they went 
to another Indian village where the natives 
at first appeared hostile but under Smith's 
wise treatment became very friendly. But 
there was no good water there and the 
adventurers became* nearly desperate in 
their need; they would have given its size 
in gold for a little puddle they had scorned 
in the last village. At last they came to a 
high point where was a large fresh-water 
pond and Smith in his joy named it Point 
Ployer, for it rescued him in his distress 
as the noble Earl of Ployer had done years 
before in France. 

It was a rough voyage for such a small 
open boat; again they met a storm and 
were blown about among the islands and 
forced to patch the torn sails with their 
shirts. The food was wet and much of it 
spoiled and altogether the discomfort was 



182 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

very: great. When they were most uncom- 
fortable came another assault by Indians, 
and these were so hostile it was necessary 
to disperse them by firing the guns. They 
of course fled at once at the noise and when 
the English followed them to their village 
they found no one there. As their custom 
was they left a few beads and other trinkets 
in token of good will, and returned to the 
boat. In the morning, probably as a result 
of this generosity, came four savages in a 
canoe and begged the white strangers to 
stay. Crowds of women and children see- 
ing no harm came to the four braves, fol- 
lowed, and much trading was done. All 
this took some time, and while Smith was 
with these Indians he heard them talk 
about the Massawomeks, a mighty nation, 
which all the savages praised and feared. 
This greatly aroused his interest and with 
no thought of fear he started out to find 
the new tribe. Thirty leagues to the north 
they sailed in this search but saw no in- 
habitants. Captain Smith taking notes con- 



DISCOVERY OF CHESAPEAKE BAY. 183 

stantly for his map which he was to send 
back to London. 

The voyage had now lasted about twelve 
days and some of the gentlemen adven- 
turers who had said many boastful things 
at the start of their own desire for explor- 
ing and their fear that Captain Smith 
would turn back before they were ready, 
began to weaken. They were tired of 
rowing, — the bread was wet, and they did 
not want to eat it, — they were more than 
ready to turn back. The sturdy captain 
stood their complaints as long as he could 
and then made them a little speech which 
showed them their weakness and lack of 
courage, and shamed them into continuing 
the journey. 

** Gentlemen," he said, ^^you remember 
the history of Sir Ralph Lane and how his 
company begged him to go on in a certain 
voyage of discovery, saying they had still 
a dog which being boiled in sassafras 
leaves would be enough food till they 
returned; then what a shame it would 



184 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

be for you to force me to return with as 
much provisions as we have, when we are 
scarce able to say where we have been, nor 
yet heard of that we were sent to seek! 
You cannot say but I have shared with you 
in the worst that is past ; and for what is to 
come of lodging, diet, or whatsoever, I am 
contented you allot the worst part to my- 
self. As for your fears that I will lose 
myself in these unknown large waters, or 
be swallowed up in some storm; abandon 
these childish fears, for worse than is past 
is not likely to happen; and there is as 
much danger to return as to proceed. Re- 
gain therefore your old spirits, for return 
I will not (if God please) till I have seen 
the Massawomeks, found Patawomek, or 
the head of this water you believe to be 
endless.'^ 

Thus the courage and good sense of their 
leader aroused fresh enthusiasm and they 
went on up the bay for two days more. 
Then turning back they explored two small 
rivers where they met many savages, 



DISCOVERY OF CHESAPEAKE BAY. 185 

painted and disguised, yelling and dancing 
and ready for war. But the sound of the 
white men's guns always quieted these 
war-like sounds, and trading and exchange 
of friendly signs followed. In one place 
they were led to a mine which seemed to 
contain silver, but the ore and dust which 
the explorers carried away proved to be 
of no value. The little company had also 
been instructed to look for furs and found 
some of different kinds, beaver, otter, and 
mink. In one place there were so many 
fish that the sailors attempted to catch them 
in a frying pan. But the fish in spite of 
their number could not be caught— perhaps 
they guessed what the frying pan was used 
for— at any rate the men found it a poor 
instrument to catch fish with. ''Neither 
better fish, more plenty, nor more variety 
for small fish had any of us ever seen in 
any place so swimming in the water, but 
they were not to be caught with frying 
pans.*' 

In another place where the fish were 



186 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

very numerous, Captain Smith devised a 
more successful way of catching them by 
piercing them with his sword. The others 
followed his example and in that fashion 
they took more in one hour than they could 
eat in a day. But while they were doing 
this an accident happened which might 
have become a tragedy and put an end to 
our story. One of the fish which Captain 
Smith caught on his sword had a long 
forked tail and was extremely poisonous. 
The captain did not know this and in tak- 
ing it off the sword the creature stung him 
in the wrist. His hand and arm swelled 
so and the pain became so great that all 
thought he must die, and they even began 
at his own direction to dig his grave. 

But Dr. Russell came to the rescue. With 
some ointment he happily had with him he 
quieted the pain to such an extent that by 
supper time our hero was ready to eat 
this fish which had stung him so severely; 
thus giving, as one of his companions 
writes, '^no less joy and content to us than 



DISCOVERY OF CHESAPEAKE BAY. 187 

ease to himself.'' They named the island 
where they were about to dig the grave, 
Stingray Isle, after the name of this fish, 
and then as the doctor had no other medi- 
cines with him and the captain was still 
suffering from the effects of the poison, 
it seemed best to set sail for Jamestown. 
The little company had passed through 
many perils of storms and hostile natives, 
but thanks to the seamanship and wisdom 
of their leader had come safely out of them 
all. The chronicle sums it all up in 
these words which give a good descrip- 
tion of Smith's way of dealing with the 
natives, *^To express all our quarrels and 
encounters amongst those savages would 
be too tedious, but in brief at all times 
we so met them and curbed their inso- 
lence that they concluded with presents 
to purchase peace ; yet we lost not a man ; 
at our first meeting our Captain ever 
observed this Order, to demand their 
bows and arrows, swords, mantles, and 
furs, with some child or two for hostage 



188 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

whereby we could quickly perceive when 
they intended any villainy." 

They not only lost no man, but all, 
except the captain, were in good health 
and spirits. On their way to the fort they 
stopped at Kecoughtan, the Indian town 
where they had been so often before. Their 
savage acquaintances greeted them with 
amazement, believing because of the Cap- 
tain's hurt and the amount of furs, bows 
and arrows, etc., they had on board, that 
they had been at war ; and they begged to 
know against which tribes. When the 
English saw that their story of a peaceful 
journey would not be believed, they told 
the credulous natives that they had met 
and conquered the Massawomeks — whom 
they had not even seen ; and the Indians be- 
came more convinced than ever that tliG 
great white chief was superhuman. 

Then they trimmed up their barge with 
flags and streamers to make the settlers 
believe it was a Spanish ship, sailed into 
Jamestown on the 21st of July, and found 



DISCOVERY OF CHESAPEAKE BAY. 189 

things as usual in a sad plight. The men 
who had come in the Phoenix were all sick ; 
and no one could do anything but complain 
of the pride and cruelty of the foolish Rat- 
cliffe, who had used up the stores for him- 
self and set the men to work for his own 
pleasure and not for the settlement. Had 
not Smith arrived at that moment with 
news of his discoveries and the hope that 
this great and beautiful Chesapeake Bay 
stretched up to the other sea for which 
they were so constantly searching, it would 
have gone hard with the worthless Presi- 
dent. 

The settlers were finally persuaded by 
Smith to give up their ideas of revenge on 
the condition, which they made, that he 
would himself become president of Vir- 
ginia. To quiet them. Smith consented; 
but he wished to complete the work he had 
undertaken and succeeded in substituting 
in his place Master Scrivener, who was an 
honest man and his good friend. He 
himself divided among all equally the 



190 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

stores Ratcliffe had taken possession of, 
and appointed able men to assist Scrivener 
in governing the young colony. Then 
he left the settlers to recover their health 
and to rest from work because of the sum- 
mer heat and, three days after his landing, 
sailed off in the little barge with twelve 
picked men to finish his discovery. They 
stopped again at Kecoughtan and told the 
natives they were going to find the Massa- 
womeks and take vengeance for the former 
attack. They then set off a few sky-rockets, 
which so terrified the poor savages they 
supposed nothing impossible for these won- 
derful strangers and begged to assist them 
in their wars. 

In two days' time the barge reached the 
point where the bay divides, and while ex- 
ploring these branches the English came 
upon seven or eight canoes full of Massa- 
womeks — the people they had been looking 
for. From now on the trip is one succes- 
sion of encounters with strange tribes, and 
of wise stratagems or vigorous and sue- 



DTROOVERY OF niMSArKAKM HAY. IIM 

eessful atincks on Ihe |>;irl of llic Kii^^lisli. 
In iliis (irsi eiicoiiiilcr ;ill Ihc l*]ri;^lisli Iml, 
fiv(» were loo sick lo H^IjI. ; Iml i\\r ollici-s 
insicnd of^^ivin^- iip in (l(^si)aii-, laid lli<' in 
valids in llic holioni oi' llic hoal, uiKlcr a 
iarj)aulin and jud, llicir lials ii|) on slicks 
alon^^ llic sides, so llial, llic hoal, sci'nicd Tidl 
of li^lilin^^ men. This si^hi was loo nnicji 
Tor IJKi hi-av(> Massawoincks who hniricd 
to IIk' shoic and slaycd IIktc iijj llie har^(^ 
Jiad sailed hy, nor conld Ihey he persuaded 
to approach it. 

At last two of the hraves consented lo 
K<> <»'d to the har^c in a canoe, the r<'st 
Hlowly following" to see that they i-eceived 
no hurt. 1'lie Mn/^lish won th(;ii- heails 
injniediat(!ly hy presentin^^- Iheni vvilh 
beads, hc^lls, an<l other tiinkels; and 
learned hy si^ns that these Indians lia<l 
just relnrne<| IVoni li;;htin^ anol Ix't- warlike 
trihe, tli(; 'rockwo;j;lis. The Massawotneks 
loid them how savage Iliis Irihe was, hnt 
that only niad(^ ()a|)tain Smith IIh' mor(^ 
eager lo lind them, and tin; next day tli(5 



192 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

English boat sailed up the river leading to 
their towns. Almost immediately it was 
surrounded by a number of canoes filled 
with these armed and fierce warriors. 
Fighting would certainly have followed 
had not the English found one Tockwogh 
brave who could speak the language of 
Powhatan. They told him that they had 
just come from a victory over the Massa- 
womeks, and were then of course received 
as allies with great rejoicing, and conducted 
to the various villages. 

Among the houses of the Tockwoghs the 
white men, interested in all they saw, found 
pieces of iron and brass which they were 
told had been taken in war from the Sus- 
quehannas, who lived two days' journey 
beyond where the English boat could go. 
They were eager to see this tribe also and a 
message was sent from the Tockwoghs 
asking the Susquehannas to come and 
meet the white visitors. After three or 
four days about sixty of them, giant- 
like people, came bringing presents of veni- 



DISCOVERY OF CHESAPEAKE BAY. 193 

son, tobacco pipes three feet in length, 
baskets, and other articles. 

One of the visitors was a giant indeed 
and Captain Smith thus describes him: 
''The calf of his leg was three-quarters of 
a yard about; and all the rest of his limbs 
so answerable to that proportion that he 
seemed the goodliest man that ever we be- 
held. His hair on one side was long, the 
other shore close, with a ridge over his 
crown like a cockscomb. His arrows were 
a yard and a quarter long.'' ** These were 
the most strange people of all those coun- 
tries, both in language and attire''; for 
their voices matched their proportions and 
sounded like an echo from a deep cave. 
They wore the skins of bears and wolves, 
often putting their own heads through the 
animal's neck so that its head hung down 
in front or behind. Sometimes their to- 
bacco pipes had prettily carved heads in 
the form of a bird, bear, or deer, and were 
heavy enough to beat out the brains of a 
man. 



194 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

Every day the English were accustomed 
to have a prayer and a psalm read from 
their prayer-book, as they always did at 
the fort, and this practice much amazed all 
the savages. One day after the service 
was ended the Susquehannas consulted 
among themselves and then began their 
own religious ceremony. First they held 
up their hands to the sun,- singing a *^most 
fearful song," then turning to Captain 
Smith began to embrace him and pray to 
him though he rebuked and tried to stop 
them. They then covered him with a great 
bear's skin, hung a chain of huge white 
beads about his neck, and laid a great 
mantle of furs and various other offerings 
at his feet, begging him at the same time 
to stay with them and rule them and help 
them against the Massawomeks. ^^But we 
left them at Tockwogh, ' ' says the chronicle, 
*^ sorrowing for our departure, yet we 
promised the next year again to visit 
them." 

Going on from there, the English gave 



DISCOVERY OF CHESAPEAKE BAY. 195 

names to all the capes, islands and head- 
lands which they passed, and two again 
remind us of John Smith's early life,— 
Peregrine's Mount and Willoughhy River, 
in honor of the town he was born in and 
the family of Lord Willoughhy, ^^his most 
honoured good friend/' At the farthest 
points of the rivers they sailed up they cut 
crosses in the trees and left in holes in the 
trees letters and little crosses made of 
brass, to show anyone who might come that 
Englishmen had been that way before. 

On the Eapahannock Eiver they met a 
savage named Mosco, whom they had 
known before and who warned them 
against the tribe of the Rapahannocks. 
But Captain Smith was not to be turned 
back and for the first time the English ran 
into a really dangerous ambuscade. The 
shields the Massawomeks had given them 
now became very useful, for they hung 
them all around the sides of the boat mak- 
ing a sort of breastwork, and though nearly 
a thousand arrows were shot the English 



196 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

escaped without any hurt. They even cap- 
tured from their foes, who greatly out- 
numbered them, many canoes which they 
presented to Alosco who had been of the 
greatest assistance in the skirmish. 

A day or two later while sailing up 
another river, they were surprised at see- 
ing an arrow fall into the boat, though no 
savage was visible. In a few minutes, how- 
ever, they made out about a hundred nimble 
savages skipping from tree to tree and a 
fight followed lasting half an hour; then 
the Indians as suddenly vanished. One of 
them happily was taken prisoner, and the 
English questioned him as to the nature 
of this country and the number of tribes. 
When they asked him why his people came 
in that manner to betray those who came 
in peace, he answered they had heard that 
the English were a people come from under 
the world to take their world from them. 
When asked how many worlds he knew, he 
replied he knew only that under the skies 
which covered him, which was inhabited 



DISCOVERY OF CHESAPEAKE BAY. 197 

by the Powhatans, the Monacans, and the 
Massawomeks ; and that beyond the moun- 
tains was the sun. Further than the moun- 
tains the Indians could not go because the 
** woods were not burnt.'* • 

Two other meetings the English had with 
the hostile savages before they reached 
Jamestown; but in both cases a complete 
victory was gained by this little boatload 
of white men, and best of all in every case 
they left the Indians their friends, suc- 
ceeded in trading with them, and in mak- 
ing them give satisfaction for any injury 
they had inflicted on the English. And 
always the Indians gave them valuable 
presents and begged them to come back 
soon again. 

At last after experiencing these danger- 
ous ambuscades and fierce storms of wind, 
thunder, and lightning, they reached James- 
town on the 7th of September, well and in 
good spirits. There they found things in a 
better state than formerly. Master Scrive- 
ner, who had been dangerously sick, was 



198 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

entirely recovered as were most of the 
other invalids they had left. Some how- 
ever had died and some were sick ; but the 
late President Eatcliffe was a prisoner for 
mutiny and by the honest diligence of 
Master Scrivener the harvest had been 
gathered, though the provision in the store- 
house had been much injured by the rain. 



xni. 

President John Smith op Virginia. 

On September 10th, 1608, by the election 
of the council and the request of the com- 
pany, Captain Smith was made President 
of Virginia, and though he had often 
before refused this honor, now consented to 
serve. With his usual energy he began 
right away to make many needed repairs 
and reforms in the settlement. He stopped 
the useless building of a large house for 
Eatcliffe, repaired the church and the 
storehouse, made provision for the sup- 
plies they expected from England, strength- 
ened and enlarged the fort, and started a 
scheme of military drill for the men. They 
marked out a training-ground and named 
it Smithfield, and there the Indians used 

199 



200 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

to stand around in amazement while the 
soldiers shot at marks and had guard drill 
under the direction of their leader. As 
provisions were always needed the boat 
was overhauled and fitted out for trade and 
sent out on a little trip under Lieutenant 
Percy. But before it had gone far it met 
Captain Newport on his way back to James- 
town with the second supply from the Lon- 
don company. 

Captain Newport seems to have lost his 
head on his arrival in London, for he re- 
turned from there with strange and foolish 
instructions to the poor colonists who were 
only just beginning under the wise guid- 
ance of their new president to establish 
themselves in the country. These instruc- 
tions, which must have been suggested by 
Captain Newport, were to explore the 
country of the Monacans— where you re- 
member he was sure they should find an 
entrance to the other ocean— and not to 
come back till they had found one of the 
lost colony sent over some years before by 



PRESIDENT SMITH OF VIRGINIA. 201 

Sir Walter Ealeigli, a lump of gold, or this 
same southern sea. They brought a barge 
in ^ve iDieces which was to be carried over 
the mountains and used to sail on this 
ocean in.* 

But most foolish of all, they were to 
crown Powhatan Emperor of the Indians, 
and take him some costly presents, a ewer 
and basin, a bed, bedstead, and some fine 
clothes, for which he had no use. This idea 
seemed to Captain Smith very silly indeed 
and he wisely declared that these presents 
would have been much better well spared 
than so ill-spent, ''for we had his favor 
better only for a plain piece of copper till 
this stately kind of soliciting made him so 
overvalue himself that he respected us as 
much as nothing at all. ' ^ 

About seventy men had come over with 
Captain Newport in this second supply, 
and with them were Mistress Forest and 
her maid, Anne Burras, the first women of 
the colo ny. Among these seventy, instead 

♦See Appendix, p. 279. 



202 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

of good mechanics, carpenters, and work- 
men for the settlement. Captain Newport 
had brought with him some Poles and 
Dutchmen who were to make pitch, tar, 
glass, and other things to send back to 
England. This would have been well 
enough if the colony had been in existence 
for several years, but now it was only so 
much work wasted and more mouths to 
feed. When they should all have been 
busied in tilling the ground, cutting down 
trees and building houses, and gathering 
in provisions for the winter, they were 
obliged to engage in useless labors, go on 
a useless voyage of discovery, and a worse 
than useless visit to Powhatan. 

But Smithes advice and entreaty could 
not stop Captain Newport, for he had the 
majority of the council on his side, and a 
hundred and twenty men were appointed 
to go with him on his journey to the land 
of the Monacans. It is hard to see why 
Newport, formerly so wise and helpful, 
had changed in this way, unless it is 



PRESIDENT SMITH OF VIRGINIA. 203 

because his gold had all turned out to be 
mica and the London company had made 
so much fun of him that it made him bitter. 
Perhaps he felt he must get even with some 
one because of his own folly, and so tried 
to lay the blame on Captain Smith. In 
reply to some of Smith's objections he 
promised to bring back the pinnace laden 
with corn, and to load her again when he 
went to crown Powhatan. For the rest he 
sneered at the President's warnings and 
said that Smith wanted to make all the 
discoveries himself, and if he had not been 
so cruel in his treatment of the Indians 
things would have gone more smoothly. 
To this Captain Smith answered that he 
would go to Powhatan with four men, 
where Newport dared not go with fewer 
than one hundred and twenty; and would 
ask the king to come to Jamestown to be 
crowned and get his joresents, and so save 
the time and strength of the colonists. 
We can well imagine his impatience and 
indignation at this foolish charge. 



204 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

Starting on this vain errand the five 
men went the short way through the woods, 
crossed the river in a canoe, and came to 
the village while Powhatan was away. 
"While they were waiting for him to come 
back they were entertained by Pocahontas 
and other Indian girls who performed a 
curious sort of masquerade dance in the 
woods, and with the usual feast. When 
the old king arrived the next day Smith 
told him about the presents, gave him back 
Namontack, the Indian who had gone to 
England with Captain Newport, and asked 
him to come to the fort to be crowned and 
to help them plan the expedition against 
the Monacans. 

Powhatan's reply was dignified^ and 
most reasonable, ^^If your king hath sent 
me presents, I also am a king and this 
is my land; eight days will I stay to 
receive them. Your father (Newport) is 
to come to me, not I to him, nor yet to your 
fort; neither will I bite at such a bait; as 
for the Monacans, I can avenge my own 



PRESIDENT SMITH OP VIRGINIA. 205 

injuries, but for any salt water beyond the 
mountains the relations you have had from 
my people are false." There seemed to be 
nothing more to say— no doubt Captain 
Smith agreed with the old chief— so he 
returned to the fort with this reply and 
the council was forced to be content. 

They sent all the presents by water 
therefore, and the two captains, with fifty 
men, went to Werowocomoco by land. 
When they had all met there the very 
interesting and entirely ridiculous cere- 
mony of the coronation took place. Pow- 
hatan did not know quite what they 
wanted to do nor why, but he endured it 
all with the usual Indian stoicism. First 
the presents were given him, and he 
showed a little hesitation about putting on 
the clothes and the scarlet cloak until 
Namontack explained that they would do 
him no harm. But when it came to kneel- 
ing to receive the crown all his stoicism 
gave way and he absolutely refused to take 
the strange attitude. Finally several of 



206 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

the English by leaning hard on his shoul- 
ders made him stoop a little, then three 
more placed the crown on his head, and at 
a signal a volley of shot was fired from the 
boat. This took the king so by surprise 
that he started up in horrible fear; but 
seeing that all was well he remembered his 
dignity, and to reward their kindness gave 
his old shoes and his mantle to Captain 
Newport and about eight bushels of corn. 
But he absolutely refused to lend them men 
or guides for the Monacan trip. With that 
small result of this elaborate journey, the 
English returned to the fort. 

A few days later with the promised one 
hundred and twenty men Captain Newport 
started for the Monacan country, leaving 
about eighty men, among them the Poles 
and Dutchmen, in the fort with Captain 
Smith. It turned out to be a discouraging 
trip. Nothing of importance was discovered 
and soon they came back to Jamestown half 
sick, all complaining, and tired out with 
the labor and famine, — for they could not 



PRESIDENT SMITH OF VIRGINIA. 207 

even find corn, much less gold or the South 
Sea. When they returned, Captain Smith 
set them all to work and thirty of the gen- 
tlemen he took some five miles down the 
river to chop down trees for lumber to load 
the ship and supply the settlement. 

In this task Smith set the example, and 
soon the adventurers found themselves 
working as they never had before and 
liking it too. There was only one draw- 
back, the axes blistered their hands, un- 
used to such labor, and the men got into 
the habit of swearing at the pain. Their 
leader did not approve of this habit of 
profanity, so he devised a way to break 
it up. Through the day each man's oaths 
were counted and at night the same num- 
ber of cans of water was poured down his 
sleeves. This proved to be such a good 
cure that at last scarcely one oath a week 
was heard. These gentlemen soon became 
expert woodsmen, far better than the labor- 
ers whom they had been obliged to drive to 



208 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

work in the first days of the colony, yet as 
Smith says, ^^ Twenty good workmen had 
been worth them all." 

All this time having been consumed in 
discovery and in getting together freight 
for the ship, there was no provision made 
for the coming winter. So Smith, leaving 
Scrivener in charge at the fort, set sail in 
the barge for the land of the Chickahominies 
to trade for corn. But the temper of the 
savages had strangely changed; they had 
no corn, or they wanted it themselves, and 
their manner was insolent and hostile in- 
stead of friendly and affectionate. Smith 
soon learned that in some way Powhatan, 
made bold by the absurdly ceremonious 
treatment of the English, had influenced 
the neighboring tribes to try and starve out 
the unwelcome strangers. Wliereupon he 
changed his own manner and told the inhos- 
pitable natives that he had come to avenge 
the death of his two men, and so immedi- 
ately began to make ready to attack them. 
The startled Indians fled and sent messen- 



PRESIDENT SMITH OF VIRGINIA. 209 

gers with provisions of different kinds to 
make the peace. As a result of this vig- 
orous action Captain Smith went back to 
the fort with a hundred bushels of com, 
followed by Lieutenant Percy with as much 
more. 

There he found that bad feeling had 
begun again in the settlement. Newport 
and Ratcliffe especially showed their 
jealousy of Captain Smith's success and 
accused him of leaving the settlement when 
he had no right to, being its president. 
They did not then stop to think that if he 
had not gone they might all have starved. 
But Captain Smith's popularity with the 
colonists was now too great for these dis- 
contented ones to be able to do him any 
harm. They could only hinder and make 
it hard and disagreeable in many ways, and 
this they did not fail to do. 

Trading was in a bad state too. The 
colonists had been for some time taking 
articles from the public store and using 
them for private trading both with the In- 



210 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

dians and with the sailors, so getting furs 
and baskets as well as food from the ship 
for themselves when they should have been 
procuring necessaries for the colony. At 
last Smith threatened to hold the ship by 
force and let Captain Newport see what 
a year in Virginia really was like, and this 
fairly frightened him into leaving with his 
freight of pitch, tar, glass and the other ex- 
periments, and a really valuable cargo of 
wood. With him went a letter* from Cap- 
tain Smith to the Virginia Company in 
London which is so straightforward and 
wise it is well worth reading. It shows 
very clearly all the colony had had to suf- 
fer needlessly because of the stupidity of 
the people in England who should have 
been helping instead of hindering them. 

When Captain Newport went back to 
England he left two hundred people in the 
settlement with no provision for the winter, 
the time having been used up in these 
senseless experiments. Captain Smith sent 

♦See Appendix, p. 278. 



PRESIDENT SMITH OF VIRGINIA. 211 

men on different trading expeditions but 
the Indians had all turned sulky; his was 
the only successful trip and that only 
partially so. He therefore determined to 
surprise Powhatan and take by force or 
strategy what the old conspirator was in- 
fluencing the Indians not to barter. In the 
midst of these plans and unsuccessful 
efforts to find food the first wedding took 
place in Jamestown and Anne Burras was 
married to John Laydon, a laborer who 
came over with the first company of adven- 
turers. We wish now that some one had 
written down a description of this wedding 
for we may be sure it was a very joyful 
one. 

Two of the council, Scrivener and a new 
member, Captain Winne, were opposed to 
Smith's plan to beard Powhatan in his 
den, but the old chief himself brought mat- 
ters to a head by sending for Smith to 
come to visit him. He also sent word that 
if the white chief would bring to Powhatan 
a grindstone, fifty swords, some pieces 



212 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

(guns), a cock and hen, with copper dnd 
beads and men to build him a house, he 
would load his ship with corn. This modest 
request did not at all deceive the Presi- 
dent; still he sent to Werowocomoco three 
Dutchmen to build the house, for it made 
fewer to feed at the fort. He then planned 
with Captain Waldo, another new coun- 
cilor, to go to Powhatan 's town with forty- 
six men — only those who volunteered — 
leaving Scrivener in charge at the fort. 

On the 29th of December the courageous 
band set out in the pinnace and two barges, 
and stopping on their way for provisions, 
were warned by friendly Indians that Pow- 
hatan had sent for them only to cut their 
throats. Bad weather kept them a week 
among their old friends at Kecoughtan and 
there they kept Christmas merrily, feasting 
on oysters, fish, and game in plenty. From 
there to Werowocomoco they suffered 
many hardships and were often obliged to 
spend the night on the frozen ground with- 
out shelter of any kind. However, on 



PRESIDENT SMITH OF VIRGINIA. 213 

they went, neither terrified nor disheart- 
ened, and when at last they reached their 
destination they found the creeks so frozen 
it was impossible to get the boats to the 
shore. 

Still undaunted, Captain Smith took 
with him a few men and they broke through 
the ice, and gained the land by walking up 
to their waists in the muddy water. Pow- 
hatan received them in the old affectionate 
way but after the usual feast, asked them 
when they expected to go; for he said he 
did not send for them and had no corn, — 
yet in return for forty swords would find 
for them forty bushels. Smith accused the 
chief of forgetting his messages and said 
besides that he had no swords nor guns to 
spare. He had sent men to build Pow- 
hatan's house, why did the Indian break his 
word and betray the friendship they had 
pledged. Smith would not injure him in 
any way unless he himself was first 
harmed. 

The chief seemed touched by these words, 



214 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN milTH. 

and with more frankness than perhaps he 
intended, explained the whole situation. 
* ^ Captain Smith some doubt I have of your 
coming hither that makes me not so kindly 
seek to relieve you as I would; for many do 
inform me your coming is not for trade but 
to invade my people and possess my coun- 
try; they dare not come to bring you corn 
seeing you thus armed with your men. To 
clear us of this fear, leave your weapons 
on board; for here they are needless, we 
being all friends and forever Powhatans." 
At the same time he said he would get corn 
for them within the next two days. 

When Smith first came, the Dutchmen 
he had sent on ahead, thinking to gain ad- 
vantage for themselves, had betrayed to 
Powhatan the starving state of the Eng- 
lish; and from that moment till Smith's 
departure the wily chief did not leave off 
begging his visitor to disarm his men. He 
used many arguments and finally said there 
was no Werowance among the Powhatans 
whom their king had treated so kindly as 



PRESIDENT SMITH OF VIRGINIA. 215 

lie had Captain Smith, yet they all obeyed 
him and Smith refused to do this one thing 
his king asked,— order his men to lay down 
their arms. Captain Smith answered with 
much dignity that he was not Powhatan's 
subject but a loyal follower of the king of 
England; yet to show the love he bore his 
Indian friend, the next day he would leave 
his arms on the boat and trust to Pow- 
hatan's promise. 

But Smith, as well as Powhatan, was now 
only trying to gain time. He expected all 
his men to land on the next day, when the 
Indians, who stood enough in awe of the 
white man to obey his orders, should have 
broken the ice that the boat might come 
to the shore. There were only eight men 
now with him and he needed the rest to act 
as guard and help carry away some ten 
bushels of corn he had secured in exchange 
for a copper kettle. 

Next morning when Powhatan realized 
that Smith was to be reinforced he fled 
secretly with his household, leaving his In- 



216 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

dians to surround the place where Smith 
was and capture him. The braves all 
gathered around this house but the hardy 
Captain was not to be surprised in this 
way, and breaking through the crowd 
which dispersed at sight of his sword and 
pistol, he gained the shore with his small 
guard, all of them unhurt. Powhatan 
learning that he had escaped and that the 
boat had nearly reached the shore, sent 
a present to the English with excuses for 
his hasty departure, and begged that they 
would take their corn on board and then 
come back without their arms. 

While they were conferring the barge 
was carried out by the tide again, and the 
English were obliged to come back to the 
house Powhatan had assigned them for 
their quarters. During the evening the 
Indians were making merry and giving 
signs of friendship but all the time they 
were devising a plan to murder Captain 
Smith and his men while they were at sup- 
per. But again Pocahontas saved his life. 



PRESIDENT SMITH OF VIRGINIA. 217 

For after it was dark the little Princess 
came secretly through the woods and 
warned her white friend that some of the 
Indians before long would bring them a 
great feast and would try to kill them while 
they were engaged in eating it. If these 
were not successful Powhatan himself with 
a great force would come later and accom- 
plish it. '^ Therefore if we would live she 
wished us presently to be gone. Such 
things as she delighted in he (Captain 
Smith) would have given her, but with the 
tears running down her cheeks she said she 
durst not be seen to have any, for if Pow- 
hatan should know it she were but dead, 
and so she ran away by herself as she 
came.'' Thanks to this warning the night 
was spent in unceasing watchfulness, and 
the Indians not being able to take the Eng- 
lish off their guard did not dare to carry 
out their plans. 

Next morning they all departed to the 
Pamunkey to try to trade with Opechanca- 
nough and his people. Captain Smith left 



218 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

the treacherous Dutchmen to finish the 
house and one Englishman to shoot game 
for the Indian King, with orders to keep 
on as friendly terms with the natives as 
possible so that when the company re- 
turned there should be more chance to 
get the food they intended to take back to 
the Fort. They had no sooner left than 
Powhatan returned and sent two of the 
Dutch traitors to the fort to say that Cap- 
tain Smith sent word that all was well with 
him but that he and his company all needed 
more arms. The people at the fort never 
thought of distrusting this message, and in 
this way the traitors obtained for the In- 
dians a great many swords and guns with 
powder and shot, and returned unsuspect- 
ed; for they believed they could live with 
Powhatan more comfortably and be free 
from all the miseries that afflicted the 
colony. 

Meantime the English were having an 
exciting visit with Chief Opechancanough. 
They were received with the usual cheer, 



PRESIDENT SMITH OF VIRGINIA. 219 

but when Smith and fifteen of his men 
went up to the Chief's house to trade every- 
thing seemed deserted. Soon the Chief 
arrived and many of his people, all armed 
but iiot bringing with them the promised 
food to sell. Captain Smith therefore ac- 
cused the Indian of deceit, and of desiring 
to see the English starve, and reminded 
him that *'it is fit for kings to keep their 
promises.'* This was all so true that the 
king consented to sell them some food that 
day, and promised that next day there 
should be more. 

Next morning after Smith and the same 
fifteen men had come up from the boats to 
the chief's house and were beginning to 
trade, Dr. Eussell came suddenly in and 
said to Smith that they were betrayed, for 
the house was surrounded by about seven 
hundred well-armed braves. The English 
were naturally much terrified but thoir 
leader quieted them by reminding them 
that firing their guns only would frighten 
away the savages. Before they resorted to 



220 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

violence however he wanted to try another 
plan, for if they killed the Indians they 
could get no food. He then turned to the 
crafty old chief, who saw that Smith under- 
stood the situation, and challenged him to 
single combat on an island nearby, saying 
that he who won should be lord and master 
over all the men and take all the corn and 
the copper. The Indians were not as fond 
of duels as were the Turks, and though the 
king seemed, to accept this plan, yet guard- 
ed by sixty of his warriors, he asked Smith 
to come outside the door to receive a pres- 
ent they had made ready for him. 

When John Smith acted it was with 
startling rapidity; so perceiving that 
armed Indians were behind the trees ready 
to shoot him if he ventured outside the 
house, he suddenly seized Opechancanough 
by his long scalplock, and holding his pistol 
against the chief's breast, led him out be- 
fore all his people. They, overwhelmed 
with amazement that anyone should dare 
to treat their king so, cast down their arms 



PEESIDENT SMITH OP VIRGINIA. 221 

and were ready to trade. Captain Smith 
followed up his advantage by telling them 
that if they shed one drop of English blood 
he would not cease revenge till their tribe 
was wiped out. And if they did not load 
his ship with corn as they had promised, 
he would load it with their dead bodies. 
Yet if they would come and trade like 
friends he promised not to trouble them. 
It must have been his boldness and au- 
dacity that saved his followers, for they 
were only a handful of white men in the 
midst of all these savages. But the brave 
Englishman never faltered, and the chron- 
icle tells us that ^^the rest of the day was 
spent with much kindness, the company (of 
Indians) again renewing their presents of 
their best provisions. And whatever we 
gave them they seemed well contented with 
it." 



XIV. 

The Final Victoey Over the Savages, and 
Captain Smith's Departure. 

While Captain Smith was using all his 
wits to procure food for the settlement, 
Scrivener at the fort was betraying the 
trust committed to him. He had evidently 
been made unfriendly by his ambitions, 
and instead of obeying the president's 
orders and staying by the fort, he took the 
skiff and with eighteen others— much too 
heavy a load for the little boat— started 
off on an expedition of his own. They were 
overtaken by a storm, the skiff was over- 
turned, and all were drowned,— a terrible 
loss to the little colony. Their bodies were 
found by some Indians ; and as every acci- 
dent to the English was grateful to these 

222 



FINAL VICTORY OVER SAVAGES. 223 

unfriendly natives, they were the more 
encouraged to carry out their plots. 

It was hard to find anyone at the fort 
who would carry the bad news to the presi- 
dent, but at last one of the gentlemen, 
Eichard Wiffin, volunteered. He suffered 
many hardships by the way and during the 
one night he spent with Powhatan was 
much impressed with the preparations for 
war— probably against the English— which 
he saw going on in the Indian village. At 
last after three days' travel he found Cap- 
tain Smith and his men about to leave the 
Pamunkey. Smith, much saddened by the 
bad news, made the messenger promise to 
keep it a secret from the rest of the com- 
pany and especially from the Indians, and 
they all got safely aboard the boat. 

In fact the whole country was now full of 
conspiracies against Captain Smith's life 
and the only things that saved him were his 
unfailing watchfulness, the wholesome 
fear the Indians had for his guns, and a 
certain awe for his person,— they still be- 



224 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

lieved him to be superhuman. Then too, 
they probably realized that the English 
would take a terrible revenge if anything 
should happen to their leader. In the final 
trading with Opechancanough a well- 
planned plot against himself and his com- 
pany was discovered by Smith and only 
thwarted by an equally clever ambuscade 
on the part of the English. Then one of 
the tribe tried to poison him, but this was 
unsuccessful, and they all finally got off 
with a good load of corn and no hurt to 
any man. 

But great was their disappointment on 
reaching Werowocomoco to find that the 
Dutchmen had warned Powhatan of the 
plan of the English to seize his provisions 
and the wily chief had left the village for 
one of his other camps, taking with him all 
the corn there was. One of the main rea- 
sons for keeping friends with the other 
Indians had been not to alarm Powhatan, 
and the disappointment was for this reason 
all the greater. One of the soldiers in his 



FINAL VICTORY OVER SAVAGES. 225 

account of the expedition states the policy 
of the company in an interesting way: 
^^Many may think it strange there should 
be this stir for a little corn ; but had it been 
gold, with more ease we might have got it ; 
and had it wanted (been lacking) the whole 
colony had starved. We may be thought 
very patient to endure all those injuries. 
Yet only with fearing them (meaning the 
Indians) we got all what they had, where- 
as if we had taken revenge, then by their 
loss we should have lost ourselves.'' 

The President, seeing that he could ac- 
complish nothing by staying longer near 
this village, and that revenge for the broken 
promises would be worse than useless, kept 
on his way to Jamestown and reached there 
early in February, having been gone six 
weeks. In spite of all the trouble and dan- 
ger he had secured enough food to keep 
forty men from hunger during the journey, 
besides delivering to the keeper of the 
storehouse on his arrival 279 bushels of 
corn. 



226 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

Having provided their food he began to 
plan for the better management of the col- 
ony. The council was dissolved by the 
death of most of its members and there 
was no one now to dispute the President's 
authority. He divided the colonists into 
companies of tens and fifteens and four 
hours each day was spent in work, the rest 
in games and exercise. But not all worked 
willingly ; there was discontent and evident 
treachery, for some of the tools and even 
the arms had disappeared. Captain Smith 
on this account called a general assembly 
of the colonists and made them a speech, 
which put heart into the discouraged and 
made the lazy and cowardly much ashamed 
of themselves and determined to do better, 
— for a while. 

After praising those who had done well, 
the President said, '^The greater part must 
be more industrious or starve. . . . Now 
the authority resteth wholly in myself you 
must obey this for a law, that he that will 
not work shall not eat, except by sickness 



FINAL VICTORY OVER SAVAGES. 227 

lie be disabled. For tlie labors of thirty or 
forty honest men shall not be consumed to 
maintain one hundred and fifty idle var- 
lets. . . . He that offendeth, let him as- 
suredly expect his due punishment." A 
notice board also was put up on which was 
kept a record of every man's achievements, 
and this and the punishments which were 
strictly inflicted, kept even the most hope- 
lessly lazy at their work. 

But all this time the Dutchmen were 
plotting with the Indians, and Powhatan 
and his chiefs were making plans to cap- 
ture or kill Captain Smith. Ambuscades 
were planned and one of these was nearly 
successful. It resulted however in a single 
combat between Smith and the king of Pas- 
pahegh, a *'most strong and stout savage," 
in which they fell struggling together into 
the river and were rescued by some men 
from the fort, and the Indian taken pri- 
soner. This capture caused great excite- 
ment among the tribes and when the chief 
escaped, as he finally did, skirmishes be- 



228 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

tween the Indians and the English became 
very frequent. 

At last Captain Smith determined once 
more to act with vigor and attack some of 
the Indian villages. On his first expedition 
of revenge six or seven savages were killed 
and as many taken prisoner. He burnt 
their houses, took their boats and fishing 
utensils for his own use, and ^^now resolved 
not to cease till he had revenged himself 
upon all that had injured him.'' 

This decision was soon evident to the 
tribes and when he came to the villages of 
the Chickahominies they all threw down 
their arms and desired peace. Captain 
Smith promised not to attack them until 
they should do the English an injury, and 
on the further condition that they furnish 
him with provisions. This bargain they 
accepted and parted good friends, which 
friendship continued about one week, until 
the English reached Jamestown again. 

There Captain Smith was told that 
though the Chickahominies were trading, 



FINAL VICTORY OVER SAVAGES. 229 

at the same time they were thieves,— for a 
pistol had been stolen and two young In- 
dian brothers, members of this tribe and 
accomplices of the thief, had been taken 
prisoners. One of the Indians was sent 
to find his accomplice and get the pistol 
and was told if he did not return with it in 
twelve hours his brother, who was in 
prison, would be hanged. Captain Smith 
taking pity on the poor anxious captive 
sent him food and some charcoal for a fire. 
Before midnight the messenger returned 
with the pistol but the savage in the dun- 
geon, not knowing the danger of charcoal, 
was suffocated by the fumes and also badly 
burned. The returning Indian mourned 
and bewailed his brother's death and the 
President to quiet him told him that if 
they would never steal again he would 
bring the dead man to life. So the English 
rubbed him and gave him restoratives, and 
though they hardly dared hope it, he did 
regain sensibility, but seemed to have lost 
his wits and talked in a most distracted 



230 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

way. This grieved the crazed raan's 
brother as much as his apparent death had 
done but the President promised the cap- 
tive's complete recovery on condition of 
their good behaviour ever after; and then 
simply by seeing to it that the Indian had 
a good night's sleep returned him to his 
sorrowing brother entirely restored. Then 
they dressed the savage's burns and sent 
them both away with a few pieces of cop- 
per, well-content and spreading the news 
everywhere that the great white chief could 
raise the dead to life. 

This supposed miracle and the complete 
surrender of the tribes on the Chicka- 
hominy frightened Powhatan and at last 
brought him too to seek for peace. He even 
sent back stolen articles quite forgotten 
about by the English, and a new state of 
things began. Treachery and ambuscades 
ceased, thieves were sent to Jamestown to 
be punished, and all the country was free 
from strife. 

But now a harder problem than Indian 



FINAL VICTORY OVER SAVAGES. 231 

quarrels had to be solved. In three months 
much had been done, an excellent well of 
fresh water had been dug in the fort, the 
first successful glass was made, some twen- 
ty new houses built and old ones repaired. 
A block-house was put up on the neck of 
land connecting the settlement with the 
mainland, and strict rules made that a 
watch should be kept and no one allowed 
to go by without the President's permis- 
sion. Thirty or forty acres of land were 
tilled and planted, and places made for the 
sixty pigs and one hundred and fifty chick- 
ens,— so much had the live-stock increased 
in three years. 

But in looking over the stores they found 
much of the corn rotten and the rest nearly 
consumed by rats. This made it necessary 
to stop work and plan for food. It was 
easier for them to live at this season if 
they were not all gathered in one little 
settlement, so the President sent a company 
of eighty down the river to live on oysters, 
and twenty more went to Point Comfort to 



232 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

fish. A few went up to the Falls— where 
the city of Eichmond now stands— but 
these could find nothing but berries and 
acorns. And the old trouble again arose, 
that a few were industrious and the rest 
remained idle and expected food to be 
found for them. There was plenty to eat 
all about them but the President had to 
watch constantly lest the lazy ones, rather 
than work, should sell to the savages all 
the articles they could find, even their own 
guns and swords, for the native fruits 
these brought to the settlement. 

Finally he found out the leader of these 
mutinous idlers and punished him; then 
said to the others: **The sick shall not 
starve but equally share in all our labors, 
and every one that gathereth not every day 
as much as I do, the next day shall be set 
beyond the river and forever be banished 
from the fort and live there or starve.'' 

The guilty ones murmured at what they 
called the cruelty of this order yet so be- 
stirred themselves that out of two hundred 



FINAL VICTORY OVER SAVAGES. 233 

men only seven or eight died in nine 
months' time. The Indians seemed com- 
pletely won over and showed in so many 
ways their affection for Smith that one of 
the soldiers said there was more hope to 
make good Christians and subjects of them 
than of half the English who were sup- 
posed to be both. One old chief who lived 
near by, though he was zealous in wor- 
shipping his false gods, yet often sent the 
President presents, begging that he would 
pray to his God for rain. The savage be- 
lieved He was as much greater than the 
gods of the Indians as the English guns 
were greater than the Indian bows and 
arrows. 

And now the conspiracy so long planned 
by the Dutchmen was first discovered, for 
they chose this time to try to betray the 
English to Powhatan. But the chief had 
learned at last who was the head of the 
English and preferred to keep his friend- 
ship with Captain Smith. He therefore re- 
fused to shelter the traitors when they 



234 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

came to take refuge with him, and several 
efforts were made to capture them and put 
them to death. For one reason or another 
the Dutchmen continued to escape punish- 
ment, unless the fact that from this time 
on they were outcasts, both from the fort 
and from Powhatan's village can be con- 
sidered sufficient punishment for such 
treachery as theirs. In the midst of this 
time of hunger and of search for the trait- 
ors. Captain Argall came from England to 
fish in the river and his ship furnished the 
colonists with biscuits, a welcome change 
from fish and berries. 

But a worse foe than hunger or even the 
Dutch traitors was in store for the hard 
working and devoted president. Slander- 
ous tongues had been at work in London 
—probably Ratcliffe, Archer, and other 
malcontents,— and a new commission was 
appointed to govern Virginia. The officers 
were instructed to look into the reasons 
why the new colony had not repaid the 
company better, and into the charges 



FINAL VICTORY OVER SAVAGES. 235 

against Captain Smith of cruelty towards 
the Indians. The expedition which left 
England in May was a large one, nine 
ships holding five hundred people ; but one 
ship was lost on the way and another con- 
taining the three leaders of the commission 
was shipwrecked in the Bermudas. With 
the seven remaining ships came Eatcliffe, 
Archer, and Martin. They began to be 
troublesome and to plot while they were 
still at sea, and turned the minds of the 
other soldiers and colonists against Cap- 
tain Smith before they had even seen him. 
When the fleet was sighted the lookout 
at the settlement thought them to be Span- 
ish ships, for the English were always ex- 
pecting the Spaniards to swoop down on 
them to destroy the young colony. Cap- 
tain Smith for that very reason had caused 
a block-house to be built near the mouth 
of the harbor, and he now stationed guards 
and planned the defense so skilfully that 
the English rather looked forward to the 
fight. But those who actually arrived were 



236 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

not so easy to deal with. The commission 
was without a leader and quarrel after 
quarrel arose, plot after plot was hatched, 
and once or twice even the President's 
life was in danger. 

There were entirely too many colonists 
now to live in the little settlement, and all 
was confusion. Finally Captain Smith 
brought some sort of order out of the chaos ; 
he sent Master West, who had come over 
with the second supply, to the Falls with one 
hundred and twenty men to start a settle- 
ment there and Captain Martin to Nandse- 
mund, near the mouth of the river, with as 
many more. At the end of his year Cap- 
tain Smith handed over the presidency to 
Captain Martin whq held it just three 
hours, then knowing his incompetency, 
handed it back again. It looked as if these 
men were always ready to grumble, but 
when it came to taking actual responsibility 
and doing something they quickly gave out. 

The companies Smith had sent out soon 
got into trouble. The one at Nandsemund 



FINAL VICTORY OVER SAVAGES. 237 

quarrelled stupidly with the Indians, who 
were at peace with the whites, and quite 
unnecessary skirmishes followed. The 
one at the Falls was in a very inconvenient 
and unhealthful location, an unwise choice 
of Master West, and Captain Smith had to 
go up in his ship to adjust matters. He 
offered to settle the discontented company 
on the site of Powhatan's old village which 
the Indian chief was willing to sell to the 
English. But they refused and turned 
against Smith who escaped from their 
anger with difficulty to his ship. It seems 
that they were excited by the thought of 
the gold they might find above the Falls 
and feared interference. 

But worst of all was their breaking faith 
with the savages. These had kept their 
promises and brought regularly their con- 
tribution of corn to the English; but the 
company at the Falls so harassed and tor- 
mented them that they complained to 
Smith, saying he had sent them as pro- 
tectors against the Monacans worse foes 



238 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

than the Monacans themselves. Nine days 
did the President stay at the Falls trying 
to convince those foolish people that their 
hopes of gold were vain and their best for- 
tune was to cultivate the land and keep 
peace with the Indians. But words did no 
good and no sooner had he left for James- 
town than the savages rose in their wrath 
and scattered the settlement, killing many 
and completely terrifying the rest. Hap- 
pily the ship had grounded and so was not 
far on its way, and the fleeing settlers 
begged Smith's aid again. This time he 
settled them at Powhatan's town where a 
fort had been built and named Nonsuch. 
Everything would then have gone smoothly 
had not the attraction of possible gold and 
the persuasions of those who were con- 
stantly discontented proved too strong for 
them, and the President was hardly out of 
sight when they all rushed back to the 
Falls and to the entrance to the Monacan 
country. 

On his way back to Jamestown a terrible 



FINAL VICTORY OVER SAVAGES. 239 

thing happened to the President. While 
he was sleeping in the small boat, a pow- 
der bag near him was accidentally set fire 
to and exploded, wounding him frightfully. 
Crazed by the pain he jumped into the 
water and was rescued with difficulty. 
There was no physician to attend him, and 
in constant torment, he was taken the dis- 
tance of nearly one hundred miles to James- 
town. Though weak and in misery he tried 
to attend to the affairs of the colony and 
deal with the mutineers as he should and 
had planned to do. They, Ratcliife, Ar- 
cher, and the rest, seeing him sick and 
wretched, plotted to have hito murdered as 
he lay helpless, but no one could be found 
who would undertake the deed. Then they 
joined together to seize the government, 
and the President learning of this and 
knowing that when the new commission 
came his office would be taken from him 
and he would be falsely accused of many 
things, gave up the weary fight — perhaps 
his pain was so great he gave up all hope 



240 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

of recovery — and took passage on a ship 
which was going back to England the next 
day. The presidency he handed over to 
Master Percy, one of the best of the colo- 
nists; for the rest he told them their con- 
fusion was at hand and never would he 
give up his office to such as they. Then 
sick and disappointed he, their only wise 
leader, left the colony he had so loved and 
worked for. 

Two of his most loyal soldiers have paid 
him the following tribute in their account 
of what happened. 

^'What shall I say but thus we lost him, 
that in all his proceedings made justice his 
first guide, and experience his second, even 
hating baseness, sloth, pride, and indignity 
worse than any dangers; that never al- 
lowed more for himself than for his sol- 
diers with him ; that upon no danger would 
send them where he would not lead them 
himself; that would never see us want what 
he either had or could by any means get 
us; that would rather want than borrow, 



FINAL VICTORY OVER SAVAGES. 241 

or starve than not pay; that loved action 
more than words, and hated falsehood and 
covetousness worse than death; whose ad- 
ventures were our lives and whose loss our 
deaths." Wliat better praise could a lead- 
er have from his followers than these brave 
words? Those who were faithful to him 
remained so through all his troubles, and 
honestly mourned his loss. 

When John Smith went back to England, 
Jamestown, thanks to his persistence, was 
strongly fortified and contained fifty or 
sixty houses. Besides this there were sev- 
eral other forts and plantations nearby, all 
in good condition. Then a peace had been 
established with the Indians which might 
easily have been kept up had Smith's suc- 
cessors been as wise as he in dealing with 
the uncertain natives. Different industries 
such as glass and tar-making had been 
started and were well under way, and the 
colony seemed at last fairly established. 
The best proof of Smith's value and wis- 
dom in leadership is shown by what hap- 



242 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

pened in the colony the year after he left 
it, when it was without his devoted care 
and guidance. 



XV. 

John Smith, Admiral of New England. 

For the next few 3^ears we hear no word 
of this brave man. Without doubt his 
wound kept him inactive for some time, 
then we imagine there were visits to Wil- 
loughby and to old friends in England. He 
spent much time in writing, chiefly accounts 
of his travels, and in 1612 his map of Vir- 
ginia was published. The Map itself is a 
most remarkable thing, both curious and 
surprisingly accurate ; and we see in it the 
result of the voyages of discovery which 
he took up and down the rivers and around 
Chesapeake Bay. 

To the Map is added *^A Description of 
the Country, the Commodities, People, 
Government, and Religion.^' This con- 
tains many accounts of the Indians and 

243 



244 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

their interesting customs and is well worth 
reading. 

Smith's interest in the new continent 
never grew less, and in the year 1614, eager 
to see another part of the wonderful coun- 
try, he sailed on the 3rd of March with 
two ships for the coast of New England,— 
little explored as yet. This he says was 
an expedition to take whales, and to in- 
vestigate a mine of gold and copper one 
of the sailing masters had told him of. 
There had been an attempt in 1607 on the 
part of some merchants to found a colony 
on the northern coast of New England, but 
it was given up within a year and the coun- 
try pronounced '^a cold, barren, mountain- 
ous, rocky desert. '' Later on some ships 
]iad gone to fish near Cape Cod, and Smith 
hearing of these attempts and because he 
had so loved Virginia, desired to see this 
country also and so made arrangements 
with three merchants to take command of 
this expedition for whales, minerals, fish 
and furs. 



ADMIRAL OF NEW ENGLAND. 245 

In April they arrived at the Island of 
Monhegan but the whales were a disap- 
pointment. Though they saw many and 
spent much time in chasing them, they 
caught very few and then found them to 
be not the kind which yields oil, and so 
useless. For the gold, it was a sea-cap- 
tain's dream, and they had spent so much 
time in whale-chasing that the season for 
getting the best cargo of fish and fur had 
passed. Captain Smith with eight others 
in a small boat scoured the coast looking 
for furs while the sailors were fishing, and 
by their united efforts the ships returned 
after an absence of six months with a fair 
cargo of both those articles. But the most 
remarkable achievement again was Cap- 
tain Smith's, for he brought back with him 
notes for a map of the coast and a descrip- 
tion of the country ; and he gave it a name, 
New England, which has clung to it to 
this day. 

On his way back to London Smith's ship 
touched at Plymouth, England, and there 



246 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

he was offered command of a fleet to sail 
for this same coast the following summer, 
which offer he gladly accepted. In Lon- 
don the merchants considered this voyage 
a great success though Smith spoke of it 
as a failure. They fitted up four ships al- 
most immediately and offered the com- 
mand of them to Smith ; but he had already 
promised the Plymouth merchants and con- 
sidered that a better port from which to 
sail, so angering the London company not 
a little. 

But when he and six other gentlemen 
— probably some of his old companions 
in Virginia who had remained his friends 
— all well provided with money, present- 
ed themselves to the Plymouth mer- 
chants, they found that these worthies had 
changed their minds. A short time before 
a Plymouth ship had returned from an un- 
successful search for a gold mine which 
had been promised its owners by a cap- 
tive Indian. When this ship had neared 
the American coast, the Indian who was 



ADMIRAL OF NEW ENGLAND. 247 

acting as guide leapt overboard and swam 
ashore and no more was heard of him or 
his mine. This disappointment dampened 
the enthusiasm of the Plymouth Company 
and they gave up all their plans including 
the fleet they had promised to Smith, so 
he lost both that and the London oppor- 
tunity. He resolved therefore to spend no 
more time in discovery or in fishing, but to 
direct all his efforts toward founding an- 
other colony. ^*The good of my country 
is that I seek,'' he writes, ^^and there is 
more than enough (land and food) for all 
if they could be contented.'' 

But Virginia was destined to be Captain 
Smith's only colony. In June of the year 
1615, with *^a labyrinth of trouble" he suc- 
ceedeth in obtaining in Plymouth two small 
ships for himself and the same six gentle- 
men, and off they sailed for New England. 
Before the ship which Smith was on board 
of had sailed many miles a storm seized 
her and he was forced to return to Ply- 
mouth or sink. There he transferred his 



248 LIFE OP CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

men and provisions to a smaller boat and 
they started again only to fall this time into 
the hands of pirates. The captain of the 
first ship they were chased by was an Eng- 
lishman and though his was a larger and 
better equipped vessel, Smith succeeded in 
making terms with him, for if his terms 
were not accepted he said he would sink 
his own ship, so depriving the free-booters 
of any spoil whatever. On board the pi- 
rate ship were some adventurers who had 
known Captain Smith and probably fought 
under him in the wars against the Turks, 
perhaps in Transylvania. They still re- 
membered his courage and skill in leader- 
ship and begged him to take command of 
them, and promised that with their help he 
could take the ship wherever he wanted to. 
Not wishing to turn pirate and still full of 
his scheme for a colony, he refused their 
offer; besides if they were willing to mu- 
tiny against their present captain he could 
hardly trust their continued faithfulness 
to any one commander. 



ADMIRAL OF NEW ENGLAND. 240 

Having fairly escaped that peril, a little 
farther on— for Smith seems to have taken 
the old route through the Canaries,— they 
met two French pirates and all on board 
wished to surrender at once, for they 
were frightened at thought of the un- 
equal fight. But Smith, mindful perhaps 
of that former fight near the Azores with 
the big Spanish ships, refused to yield till 
all the powder was gone — he would blow 
up his ship first ; and by skilful sailing the 
little vessel managed to get away. 

A little farther on they met four French 
men-of-war. The captain was not partic- 
ularly alarmed at this, for there was peace 
between France and England, and as the 
custom was he went on board the admiral's 
ship to show his papers and prove his right 
to his ship. There to his amazement he 
was kept a prisoner, his boat rifled, and 
his crew distributed among the French 
fleet which was shortly reinforced by sev- 
eral other ships. 



250 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

This was a great blow to the would-be 
colonists who still looked forward to New 
England ; but when at last Smith 's ship was 
restored to him the sailors on board mu- 
tinied and insisted on going back to Ply- 
mouth. The excitement had been too much 
for them ; they were superstitious and prob- 
ably believed bad luck had come to stay. 
The rest of the company were willing to 
stand by their leader and the sailors, fear- 
ing perhaps that he would prevail, as he 
so often did, and force them to continue 
the dangerous journey, hatched a success- 
ful plot. They told the commanders of 
the fleet that Smith was only waiting to 
get to America to revenge himself for this 
injury on all the French he should meet 
near Newfoundland, where the fishing was 
very valuable to their nation. The French 
took alarm at this, for any interruption to 
their fisheries meant great loss of money. 
They persuaded Smith by some means or 
other to come aboard the Admiral's ship 
again, and then it started off in chase of 



ADMIRAL OF NEW ENGLAND. 251 

a fancied prize while Smith's own ship set 
sail with all haste for Plymouth. 

This was the last straw. Though the 
French commander regarded it as an ac- 
cident and promised to set him ashore at 
the next convenient point of the Azores, 
among which islands they were now sail- 
ing and where he would soon be picked 
up by some passing English vessel, the val- 
iant captain seems to have lost heart. 
The French fleet cruised about the islands 
looking for prizes, and fighting both friends 
and enemies; there was often little to 
choose between war ships and pirates in 
those days. Smith tells us how he stayed 
a prisoner in the cabin during the first of 
the many fights the fleet engaged in, and 
kept himself from despair by writing down 
his Description of New England. He must 
have done this largely from memory, and 
the accuracy with which he notes all the 
capes, bays, and islands is quite wonderful. 

In this book which was published a year 
or so later, he describes in a vivid way all 



252 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

the coast from Penobscot to Cape Cod, and 
some of the statements are very interest- 
ing. The northern part of the coast, now 
Maine, consists of such high craggy cliffs 
and stony isles that he wondered how such 
great trees could grow on these hard foun- 
dations. ''It is a country rather to af- 
fright than to delight one.'' Surely parts 
of the New England coast never were better 
described. All along the coast he called 
the capes and islands by their Indian names 
with a few exceptions, two of which are of 
great interest: Cape Tragahigzanda, later 
named Cape Anne by the Prince of Wales, 
and the Three Turks Isles, 

The more southern part of the coast, 
nearer Cape Cod, Smith was much charmed 
with and thus describes it: ''And surely 
by reason of those sandy gardens and corn 
fields, and so well inhabited with a goodly, 
strong, and well-proportioned people, be- 
sides the greatness of the timber growing 
on them, the greatness of the fish, and the 
moderate temper of the air ... . who can 



ADMIRAL OF NEW ENGLAND. 253 

but approve this a most excellent place, 
both for health and fertility? And of all 
the four parts of the world that I have yet 
seen not inhabited, could I have but means 
to transport a colony, I would rather live 
here than anywhere ; and if it did not main- 
tain itself, were we but once indifferently 
well fitted, let us starve." 

Then he goes on to praise the fishing 
and to advise those who wish wealth to de- 
vote themselves to that even if it does seem 
stupid and prosaic, and not go off on a use- 
less and silly search for gold. The natural 
riches of the land, he says, are great and 
may be had by anyone who is industrious 
and persevering. And the truth of his 
preaching has been proved from that day 
to this. 

But Captain Smith was not to be allowed 
to spend all his time writing in the cabin. 
The Frenchmen had heard of his skill as 
a fighter and commander and were not un- 
willing to take advantage of their pris- 
oner 's ability. So he tells of directing the 



254 LIFE OP CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

encounters of the fleet with Spanish and 
Dutch vessels, though when they fought 
and captured English boats, as they did 
several times, he stayed in the cabin as a 
prisoner. Finally, instead of being landed 
on the Azores, he was put on board one of 
the prizes they had taken and was sent to 
France. When they had nearly reached 
the French coast, instead of their promises 
of freedom and a share in the booty, he was 
accused of having taken part in the de- 
struction of a French colony in America— 
which took place after he left Virginia. 
This charge, which of course they had in- 
vented, they said they would declare if he 
accused his captors before the French 
court of imprisoning him falsely or of keep- 
ing from him the booty they had promised. 
This was a hard problem, for Smith knew 
his innocence of the charge would not be be- 
lieved and yet he knew that his loss of time 
and of money should be made good by the 
Frenchmen. So he took what seemed the 
only way out of his difficulty, but one which 



ADMIRAL OF NEW ENGLAND. 255 

would have occurred only to the bravest 
man ; and in a storm which kept his captors 
below decks and wrecked many ships dur- 
ing the night, he escaped in an open boat 
and was driven out to sea. He kept him- 
self afloat by continuous bailing; then by a 
fortunate change in the wind he was driven 
ashore on a muddy island and was found 
there by hunters, half dead from cold and 
hunger. 

He sold his boat to his rescuers and so 
got money enough to get to the city of 
Rochelle where he stated his case before 
the French court of Admiralty; and hap- 
pily he found there some sailors from the 
same fleet who had been shipwrecked in 
this storm and who would swear to the 
truth of his statement. He was promised 
restitution,— which he never got; then go- 
ing to find the English ambassador, who 
had gone to Bordeaux to be present at the 
marriage of the king to a Spanish princess, 
he met friends who were willing to help 
him. Among these was another great lady. 



256 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

Madame Chanoyes, who ^^bountifully as- 
sisted him,'' as he wrote later in describ- 
ing his troubles. Who she was we do not 
know, but she proved a friend in need and 
helped him to go back to Plymouth— for he 
was almost utterly destitute. 

In Plymouth, which he reached in Decem- 
ber, 1615, he found some of the mutineers, 
his old sailors who had left him with the 
French, and saw to it that they were prop- 
erly punished. All the next year the en- 
thusiastic leader spent in trying to prevail 
on the merchants in Plymouth to send out 
a colony, and all through the summer he 
journeyed up and down the West coast of 
England distributing his maps and de- 
scriptions of Virginia and New England 
to prepare and excite men's minds. This 
unselfish and devoted labor was so far suc- 
cessful that a company was formed, twenty 
ships were promised Captain Smith for 
the next year, and he was appointed Ad- 
miral of New England for life. You see 
the name he gave this part of the country 



ADMIRAL OF NEW ENGLAND. 257 

had already been adopted and now we 
should not know what to do without it. 

But promises were all that came of the 
large plans. Each year a few ships were 
sent for fish by different merchants and 
many returned with good cargoes. But 
the opportunity for the colony never came. 
Probably when it came to the point not 
men enough could be found who were will- 
ing to risk the necessary amount of money. 
The age of adventure was past and now 
when colonists were sent out, it was to be 
for some other purpose than the sheer love 
of exploring and settling a new country. 

Captain Smith's suggestions to the dif- 
ferent companies about founding a colony 
were both sensible and far-seeing. He very 
much disapproved of the slave trade ; said 
the unlimited production of tobacco would 
be an injury both to men and land, which 
we know now is perfectly true ; and always 
made fun of the excited searchers for gold. 
He said a colony to be successful should 
be founded by men of good character, not 



258 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

renegades and scamps whose friends in 
England wished to be rid of them. The 
differences in the experiences in Virginia 
and in Massachusetts— where the colonists 
were God-fearing and industrious men and 
where there were no such quarrels and con- 
spiracies as those which took place in Vir- 
ginia—proved the truth of this. And he 
was always emphasizing the great value to 
England of a foothold on the new conti- 
nent, where the Spanish and French were 
already successfully located. 

When the Pilgrims set out from Ply- 
mouth in 1620, he offered his services to 
them, but they either could not pay what 
he asked or they did not want his leader- 
ship, for his motives for going were so 
different from theirs. He afterwards de- 
scribed their experiences and praised their 
patience and courage, though he declared 
they suffered from their own ignorance in 
ways in which he might have been of help 
to them. And this also was no doubt true. 



XVI. 

The Death of Captain John Smith and 
OF His Indian Friends. 

In the mean time things had been going 
very ill with the colony of Virginia. The 
peace with the Indians was soon over, 
ambuscades and skirmishes were frequent, 
and the thieving which Smith had so com- 
pletely stopped was constantly going on. 
A month after he left them there were 
twenty leaders when there should have 
been one, and no one among them knew 
how to get provisions or to deal with the 
savages. Ratcliife, now called Sicklemore, 
went to trade with Powhatan, taking 
twenty men with him ; and all of them rely- 
ing on the Indians' promises, as Smith 
never had thought of doing, were slain by 
the treacherous natives with the exception 

259 



260 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

of one boy. He was saved by Pocahontas 
and lived with the Indians for many years. 

Finally, the chronicle says, instead of 
corn and provisions they had nothing from 
the Indians but mortal wounds with clubs 
and arrows. Their live-stock was eaten 
little by little by the starving settlers, even 
to the horses ; and by the next March, only 
six months after Captain Smith's depart- 
ure, there were only sixty people left in the 
colony. These had become most miserable 
and poor creatures who lived on roots, 
herbs, and acorns, and some even became 
cannibals and ate the savages when they 
could capture one. Until this day this 
time of horror is called the starving time, 

Jamestown was in ruins, the inhabitants 
dying, and the colony would have been 
completely destroyed had it not been for 
the arrival of the chief ship of the last 
expedition, which had been wrecked in the 
Bermudas, as we read in a previous chap- 
ter. Those on board, one hundred and fifty 
in all, had been most wonderfully pre- 



DEATH OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 261 

served. While they were in those islands 
they built a ship, for theirs had been com- 
pletely wrecked, and reached Virginia in 
time to save the few colonists who were 
left. 

When Sir Thomas Gates, the head of the 
commission, saw the miserable condition 
of the few remaining settlers and the deso- 
lation of the settlement, he yielded to the 
persuasions of Eatcliffe and Martin, who 
had been the principal causers of this 
desolation, and gave orders to abandon the 
colony. On the 7th of June they all set sail 
for England, leaving, they supposed for- 
ever, this foothold on the new continent 
John Smith and the few who were faithful 
to him had spent so much strength to gain. 

But his work was not destined to be lost. 
The ship had hardly left the bay before 
it met a fleet of three ships commanded by 
Lord Delaware, who had been appointed 
Governor of Virginia, and they all sailed 
back to Jamestown. Under the wise guid- 



262 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

ance of the new governor, who continued 
in many ways the policy of Captain Smith, 
the colony grew stronger each year. In 
1618 Smith's old friend Powhatan died, 
foreseeing without doubt, wise old savage 
that he was, the final possession of his 
beloved lands by these white strangers. 
Powhatan was over seventy when he died. 
He is described as a tall thin man with a 
stern face, very strong and able to endure 
great hardships. He had kept faith with 
the English pretty well considering his 
suspicions of their purpose in coming to 
his country, and will always be one of the 
most interesting figures in our early his- 
tory. 

The peace originally made with Ope- 
chancanough was renewed by the new gov- 
ernor, but in 1622 a terrible massacre of 
the English took place, led by this old sav- 
age. There was much talk of this in Eng- 
land and Smith wrote to the heads of the 
company in London to tell them his plan 
for subduing the Indians and to offer his 



DEATH OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 263 

services for the purpose. He asked for one 
hundred soldiers and thirty sailors, not a 
great number with which to overcome a 
whole nation, but the company replied that 
the colony was not paying them well and 
they could not afford the outlay. Smith's 
plan shows that he thoroughly understood 
Indian warfare and was about the only 
man of that time who did. There is no 
doubt but that he had a genius for fighting, 
and the pity is that it could not have been 
more useful to England as he so greatly 
desired it to be. 

At several other times in the history of 
the Virginia colony he made suggestions 
to the company or offered to take charge 
of expeditions, but though his advice was 
occasionally asked and followed, there 
never seemed to be just the place there for 
him. We suspect this was for two reasons ; 
Captain Smith was naturally a leader and 
an imperious one at that ; he did not work 
well with others but did his best work when 
he alone was responsible for the results 



264 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITPI. 

and there was no one to dispute him. Then 
he was not of noble birth and at that time 
in England the positions which he wished 
and was best fitted for were as a rule only 
granted to noblemen. He was in several 
ways in advance of his times, and if he had 
lived some years later when the colonies 
were beginning to assert their independ- 
ence, his services to America would have 
been better appreciated. 

There is another of John Smith's Indian 
friends whom we must not leave without 
some account of her remarkable life. In 
many ways Pocahontas continued to be- 
friend the English after Captain Smith's 
departure, though she was never seen at 
Jamestown. In 1614, Captain Argall, who 
had visited the colony once before when 
Smith was president, went to trade with 
the Indians on the Eiver Potawomek. 
Learning from an Indian whom he knew 
well that Pocahontas was visiting in the 
neighborhood, and thinking that if he could 
take her prisoner the power of the English 



DEATH OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 265 

over Powhatan would be unlimited, Captain 
Argall bribed this Indian by the promise 
of a copper kettle to entice the Princess 
on board his ship. This was done with 
ease, the Indian girl suspecting no evil ; as 
indeed why should she who had always 
been a friend to the English? But once 
on the ship she was told that she must stay, 
and the Indian betrayer and his wife, who 
was in the plot, were sent merrily back to 
their home with the copper kettle. 

When the ship reached Jamestown, word 
was sent to Powhatan that his daughter 
could be ransomed only by his returning 
all the English prisoners he had taken and 
the tools and arms he had so treacherously 
stolen. *'This unwelcome news troubled 
Powhatan because he loved both his daugh- 
ter and our commodities well, yet it was 
three months before he returned any an- 
swer.*' Then he sent back seven English 
prisoners and a few old guns, saying that 
when his daughter was returned he would 
send the other things together with five 



266 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

hundred bushels of corn. But the English 
had learned their lesson and knew better 
than to trust him, so sent back word that 
his daughter would be well-used but kept 
at Jamestown till all stolen articles had 
been received. Another effort was made 
later by the English to effect an exchange, 
but Powhatan could not be found and the 
impression was that he was satisfied with 
the kind treatment his daughter was re- 
ceiving and preferred the English guns ! 

In the mean time an Englishman, John 
Rolfe, ^^an honest gentleman and of good 
behaviour,'' had fallen in love with the 
Indian girl and she with him. Their mar- 
riage was consented to by the governor. Sir 
Thomas Dale, and word was sent to Pow- 
hatan and his permission asked. Though 
no direct word was received from the 
Indian chief the marriage was evidently 
acceptable to him also, for an old uncle of 
Pocahontas was present at the wedding as 
well as two of her brothers, and many gifts 
were sent. The chronicle goes on to say. 



DEATH OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 267 

*^And ever since we have had friendly 
trade and commerce as well with Powhatan 
himself as all his subjects." 

From a letter written by Sir Thomas 
Dale we learn how carefully her husband 
instructed the gentle Pocahontas in Chris- 
tianity which she seemed eager to learn 
about, and that she openly renounced the 
Indian idolatry and strange customs. Also 
that she had for her husband a true affec- 
tion and had no desire to return to her 
own nation, greatly preferring the society 
of the English. She had been told that 
Captain Smith was dead, why we do not 
know, unless it was because she had always 
called him her father and in her affection 
and loyalty to him would not consent to 
this marriage with Rolfe without first ob- 
taining his permission. Some writers think 
that she was in love with the man she had 
saved, but there is no real reason to think 
so. He was much older than the little 
Princess and had always regarded her as 
a child. There is no doubt that his gentle 



268 LIFE OP CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

kindness won her heart and that she felt 
for him a great affection, but it was more 
as a father or elder brother than as a lover. 

The 12th of June, 1616, Master Rolfe 
and his Indian wife reached England and 
while they were there their son Thomas 
was born. Pocahontas had been taught 
English and was now called the Lady 
Rebecca. Every one was much interested 
in her and the treasurer of the Virginia 
company was ordered to set aside money 
as a sort of allowance for herself and her 
child. Some even believed that Rolfe, an 
untitled Englishman, should not have been 
permitted to wed a king's daughter, show- 
ing to what extent the feeling for royalty 
was carried at that time. When Captain 
Smithheard of her arrival he wrote a letter* 
to Queen Anne about her, telling her of the 
coming of Powhatan's daughter and of all 
she had done for the Jamestown colony. 

Lady Rebecca was received with much 
kindness by persons of high rank, and 

♦See Appendix, p. 283. 



DEATH OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 269 

many entertainments were given for her. 
But the fogs of London were bad for her 
health, accustomed as she was to the clear 
air and out-door life in the Virginia for- 
ests, and her husband took her to Brent- 
ford, a Devonshire town, in the hope that 
she would grow strong again. There Cap- 
tain Smith found her as he was on his way 
to Plymouth to join the expedition to New 
England he had planned for. Pocahontas 
was evidently deeply grieved at the decep- 
tion which had been practised on her, for 
after the first greeting she refused to talk 
to her old friend but turned away her face. 
After a few hours, during which the 
honest captain was feeling somewhat un- 
comfortable and *^ repenting himself to 
have writ she could speak English,'^ she 
began to talk, reminding Smith of all she 
had done for him in the Jamestown days. 
Smith had called Powhatan, father, she 
said, so she should call Captain Smith 
father. And though he refused the title, 
feeling that he, a commoner, had no right 



270 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

to the name from a king's daughter, yet 
she insisted; saying, with what gentleness 
and sweetness we can well imagine: ^'You 
were not afraid to come into my father's 
country and caused fear in him and all his 
people — but me; and fear you here I 
should call you father; I tell you then I 
will, and you shall call me child, and so I 
will be forever and ever your countryman. 
They did tell me always you were dead, 
and I knew nothing different till I came 
to Plymouth, yet Powhatan did command 
Uttamatomakkin (an Indian who had come 
to England with her) to seek and know the 
truth; because your countrymen will lie 
much. ' ' 

There is an amusing story about this 
same Uttamatomakkin. He was one of 
Powhatan's council, and had been ordered 
by his chief to number the Englishmen and 
to report on the condition of the country. 
"When he reached Plymouth he got a long 
stick and tried to keep tally of all the men 
he met, but was quickly weary of the task 



DEATH OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 271 

and reported to his master that they were 
as the sands of the sea. When Smith met 
him in London he asked the white man 
many questions and wished to see his God, 
and his king, queen, and prince. Smith 
told him about God as well as he could and 
then said that he had seen the king, as 
indeed he had when he first reached Lon- 
don. At first the Indian would not believe 
him, but when he was satisfied that it really 
was the king he said sadly, ''You gave 
Powhatan a white dog, which Powhatan 
fed as himself; but your king gave me 
nothing, and I am better than your white 
dog.- 

While Pocahontas was in London Cap- 
tain Smith went several times to see her 
and says that ''it pleased both the King's 
and Queen's majesties honourably to esteem 
her.'' And she would have received and 
deserved more honors if she had lived to 
arrive in Virginia. But the next year, 
embarking for America on the good ship 
George, with her husband, it "pleased God 



272 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

to take the Lady Pocahontas to his mercy.'' 
She died very suddenly before the ship was 
fairly under way, and was buried at Grave- 
send. Her little son was left in charge of 
a noble gentleman in Plymouth who wished 
to bring him up. Later he went to Vir- 
ginia and several well-known Americans 
claim their descent from him. 

It is hard to believe that active life is 
over for our hero. If he had been willing 
to go on trading voyages or had tried to 
get men interested in the search for wealth, 
he could probably have taken out many 
ships. But his heart was set on establish- 
ing another colony and for that only would 
he work. He realized this state of things 
himself, for he writes: ''Had my designs 
been to have persuaded men to a mine of 
gold, as I know many have done who know 
no such matter (though few so conceive 
either the charge or pains in refining it or 
the power or care to defend it) ; or some 
new invention to pass to the South Sea, or 
some strange plot to invade some strange 



DEATH OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 273 

monastery, or some chargeable fleet to take 
some rich carracks (merchant ships) ; or 
letters of marque to rob some poor mer- 
chant or honest fisherman,— what multi- 
tudes of both people and money would 
contend to be first employed/' 

And from now on we only know of him 
through his writings. His experiences 
were enough to take the heart out of most 
men, but John Smith was not embittered 
and only says of all the distresses that he 
had passed through, ^^If you but truly con- 
sider how many strange accidents have 
befallen these plantations (meaning Vir- 
ginia) and myself, you cannot but conceive 
God's infinite mercies both to them and to 
me. Having been a slave to the Turks, 
prisoner among the most barbarous sav- 
ages, . . . and yet to have lived near 
thirty-seven years in the midst of wars, 
pestilences, and famine, by which many a 
hundred thousand have died about me, and 
scarce five living of them that went with 
me to Virginia . . . though I have but my 



274 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

labor for my pains, have I not much reason 
publicly and privately to acknowledge it 
and give good thanks T' 

When some hinted that he could not 
secure a fleet to lead to New England be- 
cause he was unlucky,— and certainly when 
we think of his last attempt, the pirates and 
the French Men-of-War, there seems some 
reason for such a belief,— he replied to 
them at some length and with scorn. If 
these fortune-tellers, as he called them, had 
spent their time as he had, they would con- 
sider that life is ruled over by God and not 
by chance; and if they considered all that 
he had done and that he had finally left 
Virginia in such good shape after its long 
struggle, they would not call him unlucky; 
but studying into the causes of the troubles 
in that colony would see that there is 
reason in all things. 

In 1824 he wrote a ^* Brief Relation to 
his Majestic 's Commissioners for the 
Reformation of Virginia, concerning some 
aspersions against it.*' In this Relation he 



DEATH OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 275 

stated plainly all the reasons for the hard 
struggle in the colony, and what he sug- 
gested as the best remedy for existing con- 
ditions. One of John Smith's most notable 
characteristics was his fearless independ- 
ence of thought and speech. He was afraid 
of no man, be he one of Powhatan's war- 
riors or a royal commissioner. This letter 
of his was so wise and straightforward that 
the commissioners sent him several ques- 
tions to answer which he did with the same 
honesty and sagacity, and so was of help 
to the colony even though he could not be 
there in person. 

From this year until his death he con- 
tinued to write descriptions of his travels, 
and words of advice to seamen, colonists, 
and soldiers. Many of these showed opin- 
ions far in advance of his time, and proved 
him a thinker as well as a doer. Just be- 
fore his death he showed his love for every- 
thing connected with salt water by begin- 
ning a History of the Sea, but this was 



276 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

never finished nor can any of the manu- 
script be found. 

He died in London on the 21st of June, 
1631, in the house of Sir John Saltonstall, 
one of his warm friends. He was only fifty- 
one, not an old man by any means, but 
without question all the hardships he had 
been through had sapped his vitality. In 
his will, made the day before his death, we 
see that he had not used up all his property 
in his adventures but had enough to pay his 
debts and his funeral expenses, and then 
to distribute some in legacies. He was 
buried in St. Sepulchre's Church in Lon- 
don and there is now an elaborate epitaph 
above his tomb, beginning, 

''Here lies one conquered who hath con- 
qiiered kings/'* 

But his best epitaph is his own signature 
to the dedication of one of his books, 

''To Christ and my Country a true Sol- 
dier, and faith full Servant/' 

It is a great pity that so much attention 

♦See Appendix, p. 287. 



DEATH OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 277 

has been paid to Captain Smith's experi- 
ence with Pocahontas, for that is not the 
most important thing in his life, though 
perhaps it is the most picturesque. Eather 
we should remember him for his real 
patriotism, his honesty and devotion to 
duty, his unselfish leadership of the strug- 
gling little Jamestown settlement. No one 
pioneer has done more for the establish- 
ment of the English in this country, yet how 
little we really know of him and how un- 
fairly we have judged him,— for we have 
always thought of him simply as the man 
who was saved by Pocahontas. 

Opinionated and self-willed he probably 
was, and too eager for praise and for places 
of command; yet when he was in* authority 
his wisdom and patience were unfailing, 
and his kindness to the weak and dependent 
was as sure as was his stern justice toward 
the guilty. In spite of his exaggerations 
and frequent boasting we must surely reck- 
on him to be one of our greatest colonists. 



APPENDIX. 

The letter sent to the Treasurer of the 
Virginia Company in London by Captain 
Smith when he was President of Virginia 
in the year 1608. 

Right Honorable, etc. 

I received your letter wherein you write that 
our minds are so set upon faction and idle con- 
ceits in dividing the country without your con- 
sents; and that we feed you but with ifs and 
ands, hopes and some few proofs ; as if we would 
keep the mystery of the business to ourselves: 
and that we must expressly follow your instruc- 
tions sent by Captain Newport, the charge of 
whose voyage amounts to near two thousand 
pounds; the which if we cannot defray by the 
ship 's return, we are like to remain as banished 
men. To these particulars I humbly entreat 
your pardons if I offend you with my rude 
answer. 

278 



APPENDIX. 279 

For our factions, unless you would have me 
run away and leave the country, I cannot pre- 
vent them: because I do make many stay that 
would else fly anywhere. For the idle letter sent 
to my Lord of Salisbury by the President (Rat- 
cliffe) and his confederates for dividing the 
country, etc. What it was I know not for you 
saw no hand of mine to it; nor ever dream 't I 
of any such matter. That we feed you with 

hopes, etc I have not concealed from 

you anything I know; but I fear some cause 
you to believe much more than is true. 

Expressly to follow your directions by Cap- 
tain Newport, though they be performed I was 
directly against it; but according to our com- 
mission I was content to be overruled by the 
major part of the council, I fear to the hazard 
of us all ; which now is generally confessed when 
it is too late. ..... 

For the charge of this voyage of two or three 
thousand pounds, we have not received the value 
of a hundred pounds. And for the boat to be 
borne by the soldiers over the Falls, Newport 
had 120 of the best men he could choose. If 
he had burnt her to ashes one might have car- 
ried her in a bag ; but as she is five hundred can- 



280 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

not, to a navigable place above the Falls. And 
for him to find at that time in the South Sea, 
a mine of gold, or any of them sent by Sir 
Walter Raleigh ; at our consultation I told them 
was as likely as the rest. But during this great 

discovery of thirty miles they had the 

pinnace and all the boats with them, but one 

that remained with me to serve the Fort 

For the coronation of Powhatan, by whose 
advice you sent him such presents I know not; 
but this give me leave to tell you, I fear they 
will be the confusion of us all ere we hear from 
you again. At your ship's arrival, the Salvages' 
harvest was newly gathered, and we going to 
buy it ; our own being not half sufficient for so 
great a number. As for the two ships' loading 
of corn Newport promised to provide us from 
Powhatan, he brought us but fourteen bushels; 
and from the Monacans, nothing, but the most 
of the men sick and near famished. And from 
your ship we had not provision in victuals 
worth twenty pound, and we are more than two 
hundred to live upon this; the one half sick, 
the other little better. For the sailors (I con- 
fess) they daily make good cheer, but our diet 
is a little meal and water and not sufficient of 



APPENDIX. 281 

that. Though there be fish in the sea, fowls 
in the air, and beasts in the wood, their bounds 
are so large, they so wild, and we so weak and 
ignorant, we cannot much trouble them. Cap- 
tain Newport we much suspect to be the author 
of those inventions. 

Now that you should know, I have made you 
as great a discovery as he, for less charge than 
he spendeth you every meal; I have sent you 
this Map of the Bay and Rivers, with an an- 
nexed Relation of the Countries and Nations 
that inhabit them (see page 176). .. . Also two 
barrels of stones, and such as I take to be good 
iron ore at the least, so divided as you may see 

by their notes in what places I found them 

Captain Ratcliffe is now called Sicklemore, a 
poor counterfeited imposture. I have sent you 
him home, lest the company should cut his 
throat. What he is, now everyone can tell you ; 
if he and Archer return again, they are sufficient 
to keep us always in factions. 

When you send again, I entreat you rather 
send but thirty carpenters, husbandmen, gar- 
deners, fishermen, blacksmiths, masons, and dig- 
gers up of trees and roots, well-provided, than 
a thousand of such as we have; for except we 



282 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

be able both to lodge them and feed them, the 
most will consume with want of necessaries, be- 
fore they can be made good for anything. 

Thus if you please to consider this account 
and of the unnecessary wages to Captain New- 
port, or his ships so long lingering and staying 
here, .... or yet to send into Germany or 
Poland for glass-men and the rest, till we be 
able to sustain ourselves, and relieve them when 

they come For in overtoiling our weak and 

unskilful bodies to satisfy this desire of present 
profit, we can scarce ever recover ourselves from 
one supply to another. 

And I humbly entreat you hereafter, let us 
know what we should receive, and not stand 
to the sailors' courtesy to leave us what they 
please; else you may charge us with what you 
will, but we not you with anything. 

These are the causes that have kept us in Vir- 
ginia from laying such a foundation that ere 
this might have given much better content and 
satisfaction; but as yet you must not look for 
any profitable returns : so I humbly rest. 



APPENDIX. 283 

Letter written by Captain Smith to the 
Queen, when Pocahontas came to London 
with her husband in the year 1616. 

To the most high and virtuous Princess, 
Queen Anne of Great Britain. 

Most admired Queen, 

The love I bear my God, my King, and Coun- 
try, hath so oft emboldened me in the worst of 
extreme dangers, that now honesty doth con- 
strain me to presume thus far beyond my self, 
to present your Majesty this short discourse: 
if ingratitude be a deadly poison to all honest 
virtues, I must be guilty of that crime if I 
should omit any means to be thankful. 
So it is, 

That some ten years ago being in Virginia, 
and taken prisoner by the power of Powhatan, 
their chief king, I received from this great Salv- 
age exceeding great courtesy, especially from his 
son, Nantaquaus, the most manliest, comeliest, 
boldest spirit, I ever saw in a Salvage, and his 
sister, Pocahontas, the king's most dear and 
well-beloved daughter, being but a child of 
twelve or thirteen years of age, whose compas- 
sionate pitiful heart, of my desperate estate gave 



284 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

me much cause to respect her: I being the first 
Christian this proud king and his grim attend- 
ants ever saw : and thus enthralled in their bar- 
barous power, I cannot say I felt the least oc- 
casion of want that was in the power of those, 
my mortal foes, to prevent, notwithstanding all 
their threats. After some six weeks, fatting 
among those Salvage courtiers, at the minute of 
my execution, she hazarded the beating out of 
her own brains to save mine ; and not only that 
but so prevailed with her father, that I was 
safely conducted to Jamestown: where I found 
about eight and thirty miserable, poor, and sick 
creatures to keep possession of all those large 
territories of Virginia; such was the weakness 
of this poor Commonwealth, as had the Savages 
not fed us, we directly had starved. And this 
relief, most gracious Queen, was commonly 
brought us by this Lady Pocahontas. 

Notwithstanding all these passages, when in- 
constant Fortune turned our peace to war, this 
tender virgin would still not spare to dare to 
visit us, and by her our jars have oft been ap- 
peased and our wants still supplied ; were it the 
policy of her father thus to employ her, or the 
ordinance of God thus to make her His instru- 



APPENDIX. 285 

ment, or her extraordinary affection to our na- 
tion, I know not: but of this I am sure; when 
her father with the utmost of his policy and 
power, sought to surprise me (see page 216) 
having but eighteen with me, the dark night 
could not affright her from coming through the 
irksome woods, and with watered eyes gave me 
intelligence, with her best advice to escape his 
fury; which had he known, he had surely slain 
her. 

Jamestown, with her wild train, she as freely 
frequented as her father's habitation; and dur- 
ing the time of two or three years (1608-9) she 
next under God, was still the instrument to 
preserve this Colony from death, famine, and 
utter confusion 

About two years after (April 1613) she her- 
self was taken prisoner ; being so detained near 
two years longer, the Colony by that means was 
relieved, peace concluded; and at last rejecting 
her barbarous condition, she was married (in 
1614) to an English gentleman with whom at 
this present she is in England ; the first Christian 
ever of that nation, the first Virginian ever spake 
English 

Thus, most gracious lady, I have related to 



286 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

your Majesty what at your best leisure our ap- 
proved histories will account you at large, and 
done in the time of your Majesty's life; and 
however this might be presented you from a 
more worthy pen it cannot from a more honest 
heart; and it is my want of ability and her 
exceeding desert, your birth, means, and author- 
ity, her birth, virtue, want, and simplicity 
does make me thus bold humbly to beseech your 
Majesty to take this knowledge of her, though 
it be from one so unworthy to be the reporter as 
myself, her husband's estate not being able to 

make her fit to attend your Majesty 

If she should not be well received, seeing this 
kingdom may rightly have a kingdom by her 
means; her present love to us and Christianity 
might turn to such scorn and fury, as to divert 
all this good to the worst of evil ; whereas, find- 
ing so great a Queen should do her some honor 

more than she can imagine would so 

ravish her with content, as endear her dearest 
blood (make it her greatest desire) to effect that 
which your Majesty and all the King's honest 
subjects most earnestly desire. 

And so I humbly kiss your gracious hands. 



APPENDIX. 287 

Epitaph to Captain John Smith in St. 
Sepulcher's Church in London. 

To the Living Memory of his deceased Friend, 

Captain JOHN SMITH, who departed this 

mortall life on the 21 day of June, 1631. 

With his Armes, and this Motto, 
Accordamus. Vincere est vivere. 

Here lies one conquered that hath conquered 
Kings, 
Subdu'd large Territories, and done things 
Which to the World impossible would seem, 
But that the truth is held in more esteem. 

Shall I report his former service done 
In honour of his God and Christendome ; 
How that he did divide from Pagans three, 
Their Heads, and Lives, Types of his Chivalrie : 
For which great service in that Climate done, 
Brave Sigismundus (King of Hungarion) 
Did give him as a Coat of Armes to wear, 
Those conquered heads, got by his Sword and 
Spear ? 

Or shall I tell of his adventures since, 
Done in Virginia, that large Continence: 
How that he subdu'd Kings unto his yoke, 



288 LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

And made those Heathen flie as wind does 

smoke ; 
And made their Land, being of so large a sta- 
tion, 
A habitation for our Christian Nation: 
Where God is glorified, their wants supplied, 
Which else for necessaries might have died? 

But what avails his Conquest, now he lies 
Inter 'd in earth, a prey for Wormes and Flies T 
may his soul in sweet Elizium sleep, 
Untill the Keeper that all soules doth keepe, 
Return to Judgement, and that after thence, 
With Angels he may have his recompence. 

Captain John Smith, sometime Govemour 

of Virginia, and Admirall of 

New England. 



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